Choose your UserName: it has to be your Family Name, underscore and your Name (e.g. Jobs_Steve)
Click on "Join this wiki" button. Before you can edit the page, you have to be accepted as member of the wiki
When authorized you can make any contribution into the wiki after logging in with your username and password
Click on "Edit" or "Modifier" to add a comment in the home page (Monday, Tuesday, etc)
Before making any contribution, check that your point of view is original and that nobody else posted something similar to your contribution in the Wiki (if you find some post similar to your, replay to it)
Each individual contribution MUST have a title (to make evident the content of the post)
Choose editing and graphical solutions that support readers' understanding and make easy to distinguish and appreciate each contribution.
What can you post here:
* the concepts presented during the lesson;
* a different point of view regarding a discussed issue;
* a new idea/concept/example linked with those already presented in the class. In this case, please be sure to highlight what is the connection among the different ideas.
* links to other material that contributes to the course (always quote the sources of your information and provide the link/URL to them).
UPDATE: 15.30 wikispaces is now accessible also from the Univ. Net.
Monday (19 march)
Innovative funds and network externalities:
www.kickstarter.com is a page to get funds for innovative projects.
Network externalities: The value of the company increase with the number of the customers joining the company or system. This is effect can be modelised by the Metcalfe's law which states that the value of a telecommunication network is related to the number of connected users of the system which is equal to n2 where n is the number of nodes in the network.
Like facebook, mobile networks, etc if this is the case the business should find a way to increase the number of nodes and the quality of the channel (setting good policies related to those can be good).
web that can help: http://www.utdallas.edu/~liebowit/palgrave/network.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe's_law
What is changing? The evolution of web 3.0 Internet is changing relationships. - Web 2.0 "is a decade and not a technology" - it's more about defining the character of each era, rather than trying to define a Web era as a set of technologies. So in those terms, if Web 2.0 is equivalent to social web, then Web 3.0 will be the "intelligent web". - Web 3.0 is a different way of building applications and interacting on the web. The core model of web 3.0 states that entire World Wide Web will be seen as a single database. Many tools are being developed through which interactivity between different websites with different data can be enhanced. Prediction is that Web 3.0 will ultimately be seen as web applications which are pieced together. Another possible path for Web 3.0 is towards a 3 dimensional vision championed by the Web3D Consortium. This would involve the Web transforming into a series of 3D spaces, taking the concept realized by “Second Life” still further. This will open up new ways to connect and collaborate using 3D shared spaces (SYS-CON Media, Inc., 2008)
eCommerce is about exchanging, purchasing and selling goods and services over computer networks (class notes). The chessboard shows different possible combinations.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
It is an e-commerce model but it is more than that. It is a technology in itself which helps people to directly share computer files and computer resources without having to go through a central web server. To use this, both sides need to install the required software so that they can communicate on the common platform. This type of e-commerce has quite low revenue generation as from the beginning it has been inclined to the free usage due to which it sometimes got entangled in cyber laws. E.x. Bit Torrent, Kazaa
B2B e-commerce
Good example of B2bB is freicht exchange online. This is online service for freight companies, logistics providers, and freight forwarders. It allows transport companies to search announcements for freight, and freight forwarders or logistics providers to offer freight to be transported.
B2G e-commerce
One of the best examples of B2G technologies is the GSA Advantage web site. GSA offers a purchasing portal that federal agencies can use to acquire goods and services. GSA Advantage looks similar to most retail B2C e-commerce sites. However, it is specially designed for use by government personnel. Products and services are organized into approximately 20 categories such as building and industrial supplies Source: http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/07/gsa-advantage-an-example-of-how-b2g-technologies-can-help-to-lower-the-us-federal-deficit.html
China's e-commerce market up 66% to $121 billion
$121 billion
That was the size of China's e-commerce market last year. Online payments in the world's fastest-growing major economy jumped 66 percent from 2010, according to Barclays Capital, and foreign companies like eBay's PayPal unit hope to get a piece of the action. PayPal has applied for a license to process electronic payments in China, potentially challenging local companies such as Alibaba Group's Alipay affiliate.
Hear here
"It's another round of a race to the bottom, and this won't be the last one." Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners, on Amazon.com and Microsoft cutting prices for their Internet-based cloud-computing services. Amazon.com's EC2, which lets customers run their programs on its servers, slashed prices as much as 37 percent on March 5. Microsoft's Azure responded within days with its own cuts. There's a reason the companies want to stay competitive on price: The cloud-services market will more than triple to $72.9 billion between 2010 and 2015, research firm IDC says.
Heads Up
The Creators Project lands at San Francisco's Fort Mason this weekend, offering an alternative to Austin's South by Southwest. The arts and technology festival presents films, panel discussions and installations like United Visual Artists' "Origin," a 40-foot cube that lights up and plays electronic music. Rock bands including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Chinese punk group New Pants will perform today. While free tickets have been scooped up already, Sunday's events are open to all.
Advantages:
1. Maps changes to existing business models as they evolve or need to pivot differently
2. Sketchs out competitors' positions to explore possible opportunity gaps
3. Simplify implementation of innovations that have an impact on existing business models
4. Accelerates conecpt brainstorming to move into prototyping evaluation and market testing
Disadvantages:
1. Doesn't include a representation of the main business goal
2. It is not based on the numbers, finance and marketing area
3. Doesn't consider the important issue of goal setting
4. Doesn’t consider different business structures of companies whilst comparing
Flow Canvas
This very usefool tool is a different an original way to build a business plan, read this for more information about that: http://www.flowfinders.com/flow-canvas
What Kind of startup is right for u?
Nellie Akalp is the CEO of CorpNet.com, an online legal document filing service, where she helps entrepreneursincorporate or form an LLC for their new businesses. Connect with Nellie directly on Twitter or visit her free resource centerfor more tips! Do you dream of the day you can start your own business? Take control of the reins, set your own schedule and make your own decisions? In these days of economic uncertainty when layoffs and unemployment rates dominate the news, the idea of starting a business no longer seems all that much riskier than the traditional nine-to-five office job. Now that you’ve decided to take the plunge into entrepreneurial life, do you know how to choose the type of business that’s right for you? What industry and business would make the best use of your specific abilities and assets? Here are six tips for selecting the business that’s right for you:
1. Align Your Strengths and Interests
Not sure where to focus? Let past experiences be your guide. Maybe you spent six years running marketing programs for a legal firm. Maybe you’re famous for throwing the most creative birthday parties for your children. Consider all previous work experience and hobbies, and think about how you can parlay that into a successful business. Create a list of skills that covers what you’re good at and areas where you’re a subject matter expert. Then list out the things you like to do. Compare these two lists and see if any patterns emerge, or point to any business type that aligns both your strengths and passions.
2. Don’t Worry About Reinventing the Wheel (Just Make a Better One)
Worried that your business idea isn’t original enough? Many first-time entrepreneurs make the mistake of thinking they need to blaze a new trail to be successful. Yes, the market always needs innovators, but a thriving business doesn’t necessarily have to be disruptive. Think about it. Starbucks wasn’t the first company to sell coffee (even expensive coffee) and will hardly be the last. Rather than struggling to come up with a brand new idea, take a look at your target industry and see where there’s a void to be filled. My husband and I entered a very established and saturated market, but have been able to differentiate our business by bringing a personal, customer-centric, small business touch.
3. Take the Dinner Party Test
OK. Imagine yourself at a cocktail party, Tweetup or other networking event, and you’re asked that inevitable question: “So, what do you do?” Think about how you’ll respond with each potential business option. Are you proud and excited to describe your new business? Or a little embarrassed and looking to steer the conversation elsewhere? Playing out this scenario can help you uncover your true feelings about a potential business idea. Not every great business is going to translate well for the cocktail crowd (and that’s OK), but being proud and passionate about your venture is an important key to success.
4. Match Your Funding Situation
When considering business options, you’ll need to be harshly realistic about your financing. The majority of startups fail because they don’t have enough capital to power through the early days. If you don’t have enough capital to realistically support your business and personal financial needs for at least six months to one year, you should consider another business option. There is some good news on the funding front. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, which measures the overall volume of financing to U.S. small businesses, jumped 18% in January compared with a year ago. This marks the index’s 18th consecutive double-digit rise.
5. Fit Your Lifestyle
If you want to jump into the entrepreneurial game but aren’t quite sure what the business should be, chances are you’re looking for a specific lifestyle. You need to make sure your new business will fit the kind of life you lead, or wish to lead. For example, if you have family obligations, consider how much time you can spend away from home. If you’re looking for the flexibility to work from a tropical beach one week and the ski slopes the next, make sure you start a business that can be managed virtually. And keep in mind that as a business owner, you may no longer be stuck in a cubicle all day long, but you may still need to be chained to your laptop or phone.
6. Do What You Love, But…
We’ve all heard the saying “Do what you love and the money will follow.” That’s not exactly the case. Yes, passion is important. But in order to turn your passion into a profitable business, you have to fill a need that others are looking for. I happen to adore sitting on the beach, but I’ve yet to translate that into steady income. Remember that the market isn’t necessarily concerned if you are fulfilling your lifelong dream. Customers spend money on products and services that fulfill their own needs and desires. To turn a profit, focus on how your passion can make a difference to others. In short, when deciding what business to start, be sure to consult both your head and your heart. Then buckle your seat belt and get ready for an incredibly exciting, tiring and always rewarding ride.
Source : http://mashable.com/2012/03/21/startup-business-tips/
We saw that plans are useless while planning is priceless. Indeed, you cannot control everything and changes that may happen could hcnage your strategy. That is why fixed plans are useless but planning a flexible strategy according to changes (those you can suppose but alos those you cannot forecast) in necessary.
The Business Model Canvas:
Key Partners:
Who are our Key Partners?
Who are our key suppliers?
Which Key Resources are we acquiring from partners?
Which Key Activities do partners perform?
Key activities:
What Key Activities do our Value Propositions require?
Our Distribution Channels?
Customer Relationships?
Revenue streams?
Key Resources:
What Key Resources do our Value Proposition reauire?
Our Distribution Channels?
Customer Relationships?
Revenues Streams
Value Propositions
What value do we deliver to the customer?
Which one of our customer’s problems are we helping to solve?
What bundles of products and services are we offering to each Customer Segment?
Which customer needs are we satisfying?
Customer Relationships
What type of relationship does each of our customer segment expect us to establish and maintain with them?
Which ones have we established?
How are they integrated with the rest of our business model?
How costly are they?
Channels
Through which Channels do our Customer Segments want to be reached?
How are we reaching them now?
How are our Channels integrated?
Which ones work best?
Which ones are most cost-efficient?
How are we integrating them with customer routines?
Customer Segments
For whom are we creating value?
Who are our most important customers?
Cost Structure
Revenue Streams
Source: www.businessmodelgeneration.com
Which activities to outsource from a Transaction Costs Economics point of view
Coase (1937) introduced the concept of transaction costs which occur when goods and services are exchanged, but these costs are not connected to the creation of the goods and services and therefore do not add value. The transaction costs can be seen as “costs of making each contract” which Williamson (1985) divides into information, negotiation and observation costs. The underlying assumptions for transactions costs are the information asymmetry, bounded rationality, and opportunism. As a result, contracts are not arriving at the market equilibrium determined by the neoclassical theory (Snieska & Vasiliauskiene, 2009, p. 1019). However, these costs are not only valid for transactions on the market but also in a hierarchy. Since the assumptions also remain appropriate within the company, transaction costs for inventing and running a control system appear due to the aim of avoiding moral hazard and guaranteeing the employees productivity. The basic idea now is to find an organizational design in which the cost of performing an activity, including the ex-ante costs of negotiating and the ex-post costs of monitoring and providing feedback, is minimized (Anrold, 2000, p. 25).
Williamson (1985) expanded Coase’s theory and introduced the asset specificity, uncertainty, and frequency of transactions as indicators for insourcing or outsourcing an activity. Figure 1 shows the higher the asset specificity, frequency, and uncertainty of an activity is the more likely it will be insourced. According to Williamson (1985), the asset specificity is the most important aspect of a transaction for the outsourcing decision. It is divided into asset and human capital specificity. A high degree of specificity means that the asset has low or no value for another transaction on the market so that the supplier is locked into such an investment which increases the transaction costs of outsourcing. In contrast to manufacturing activities, Ellram et al. (2008) found that this theory is only partially true for outsourcing services (p. 160). While the TCE premise that companies are less likely to outsource services with high asset specificity holds, services which require the development of high levels of human capital specificity are outsourced. It is argued that the human knowledge and expertise were being developed with the outsourcing of the service. Empirically, this process has not been seen as critical from the companies’ point of view.
In addition, the assumption that a high frequency of a transaction favors its outsourcing has been neglected (Ellram et al., 2008, p. 160). Ellram et al. (2008) argue that services nowadays have low transaction costs due to the advanced information technology which is not comparable with the high variable costs of manufactured goods such as transportation, handling, and inventory costs. As a result, a high frequency is not associated with higher transaction costs on the market leading to the insourcing decision of an activity (p.160).
However, the findings support Williamson’s assumption that a high degree of uncertainty avoids outsourcing of services in the same manner as outsourcing manufacturing activities (Ellram et al., 2008, p. 160). The rationale behind is that a higher uncertainty implies a higher complexity of the outsourcing contract which in turn increases the transaction costs.
Figure1: Model for the outsourcing design of manufacturing activities based on the TCE theory
Source: Amended from Anrold, 2000, p. 25
The TCE perspective which focuses mainly on the operational level for cost reductions through the minimization of production and transactions costs (Figure 1) and the adjusted indicators lead to the conclusion that the outsourcing of services is reasonable. However, this view seems to be limited in the long term. In fact, the RBT has to be taken into account as a complementary theory to understand the strategic decision of companies in favor of internal outsourcing of services instead of external outsourcing (Barrar & Gervais, 2006, p. 78).
Outsourcing decisions clearly affect the cost structure of a company, but also affect the competitiveness in the long run. The competitive advantage which legitimates the existence of a company results from its strategy and its organizational design. Moreover, Barney (1991) summarizes a strategy to create a sustainable competitive advantage when it is “not being implemented by any current or potential competitors and when these other firms are unable to duplicate the benefits of this strategy” (p. 102). While Porter (1986) postulated that the organizational design resulted out of the strategy, Prahalad and Hamel’s findings (1990) suggested that these two elements are interdependent (pp. 79-91). Thus, based on the RBT the organizational design has to be in line with the strategy of a company to be able to establish a competitive advantage.
Based on the TCE theory and the argument that companies should focus on the core competencies the outsourcing of manufacturing activities in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s was justified (Kotabe & Murray, 2004, p. 10). In addition, the outsourcing of activities decreases the fixed investment in equity resulting in an increased return on equity. Depending on the compensation scheme for the management, a further incentive for strong outsourcing could be cteated. However, according to Kotabe and Murray (2004), the outsourcing of activities to independent external sources creates a dependency and leads to a loss of competitive advantage in the long run (p. 12). The loss of tacit knowledge which could be otherwise allowed breakthrough thinking in other areas is seen as the reason for the loss of the global competitiveness in the long run (Amaral et al. 2006). Furthermore, the vanishing degree of differentiation caused by the outsourcing of activities to the same suppliers leads as well to the loss of the competitive advantage (Dyer et al., 1988).
Thus, internal outsourcing with a higher degree of hierarchical coordination can be used to obtain the best of both worlds (Kotabe & Murray, 2004, p. 11). There are many hybrid forms such as SSC, cooperations, capital investments, etc. in which the activities can be designed to operate more efficiently while maintaining the competitive advantage in the long term.
Open source Operating systems in french companies
This recent study is analyzing the number of fench companies using Open source operating systems in function of different sectors. 21% of french companies with at least 10 employees ar using an open source OS (26% for companies between 20 and 250 employees).
Whereas previous studies have declare that Open source software were rarely used. This study is bringing new figures with 1 company on 5 that is working with this software. It appears that trend is really growing.
Concerning the different sectors, the following chart is explaining the repartition.
This chart is putting information and communication at the first step. Conctruction and housing sectors are the last one. Companies with more than 250 employees are the main users of the open sources OS.
This article is linked with growing claims against Microsoft office. In this case 43% of companies under 250 employees are using open sources bureautic tools. Over 250 employees, only 33% companies are using these softwares.
Source: Article from ZDnet.fr Published the 20/03/2012 Figures from Insee
Let's take an example of a sofware company. Customers might use the software in a different way than first intended when they made it. In other words customers might use the software for something the software makers weren't expecting. This is why it is important to test products before releasing them into the market.
Copyrights and CRM tool and or guide:
Copyrights or royalties are benefits that impulse companies to do investigation and research, but in SW industries is not enough (also in many other business), so what they are doing is updating and creating changes continuously to be better than before so they can be less copied and get more value. www.salesforce.com CRM management tool and can help to have ideas or guides.
Effeciency vs Effectiveness:
Both these words are often considered synonymous and on many occasions confused with each other.
However, they actually are two different management terms.
Efficiency basically refers to the ratio between Output and Input. It is like getting the maximum output with minimum available resources.
While Effectiveness refers to how well your execution of the process actually attains the intended goal.
While efficiency generally looks at avoiding mistakes, effectiveness looks at achieving success.
How to play by the adword rules?
If you don’t play by the rules, then you can’t play at all. Google AdWords are like any other game, there are rules that you have to follow. But hey, this just helps to even out the playing field an more than anything, it keeps the fans involved. So what are these rules? They are known as the AdWords Policies. Here is a quick overview of the main policies to keep in mind.
First of all, there are editorial guidelines. We discussed these earlier when we were looking at setting up a variety of text ads. If you remember, there are certain character limits that your web copy has to fit within. Another guideline on the ad copy is for prices, discounts and free offers. If you have any of these types of special offers advertised within the ad copy, the landing page of that ad has to clearly direct the user to the special offer within 1 to 2 clicks.
The next policy type has to do with the content of the website. For example, if your site is a gambling site there are certain regions where you are not permitted to advertise that business service via Google. There are also times where your business model or practice may be determined to be unacceptable by Google and the ads will be banned. This is not as strict of a rule, it is more of one of those grey areas within the AdWords Terms and Conditions where Google can do what it wants. I would imagine that as long as your business is legal and you are not trying to deceive your site visitors then you should be good to go on this one.
The last main policy line item which is important has to do with the links you provide. First of all, you have to display an accurate base URL. This is to give the users and idea of where they may be visiting. The key here is that this does not have to be the correct extension. For example, if your ad takes a visitor to the following page:
Well, this does not look very enticing, especially if your ad is about sending your best friend a birthday card. So, you could have the display URL read:
Okay, the next one has to do with pop-ups. Pop up advertising has been so abused that Google no longer allows you to have a pop-up of any type on the landing page from your ad. Now, if you insist on using a pop-up just put it later on in the sales funnel. Because again, if you have this set up within the landing page, your ad will ultimately be blocked once Google reviews it. On a similar topic, there are affiliate URLs. You cannot use a destination URL which just poses as a redirect or otherwise routes you over to another website. As I understand this, that does not mean that you cannot have affiliate links on your landing page, it just means that you have to have a valid page where the user chooses to click or not to click on your affiliate link.
Lastly, there are the adult content websites. Nearly everyone has typed in some URL the incorrect way and found that they have landed on an inappropriate web site. Google has set up a variety of restrictions to help keep search clean. First of all, you may have noticed an option for ‘safe search.’ If this filter is on in your Google search then you will not receive any ads for adult content websites. As well, if you happen to be a website owner of an adult site, when you submit your ad to Google they will assign it to a class. This class will be either family safe, non-family safe, or adult. Adult ads will not appear in a variety of countries like China, Korea and India. Also, the adult ads will not appear for non adult searches. So, if you are trying to be deceptive (which you should not do) and you place a bunch of non-adult related keywords to your adult web site, Google knows whats up and they will restrict your ad. So, just play fair.
In this video you have a quick and easy to understand overview of SEO. It talks about what things you should consider in order to put your website on top of the search list http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF515-0Tduk
Search engine optimization (SEO) describes the process through which the visibility of a website is tried to be improved in search engines. By the term visibility the "natural," or un-paid search results are considered. In general, the higher ranked on the search results page and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users.
Within the framework of search engine optimization the techniques and algorithms of search engines are investigated. The search engine operators only partially disclose and frequently change their algorithms to aggravate abuse and provide the user with relevant results. That's the reason why the unknown and secret techniques are examined by reverse engineering of the search results. Thereby, analyzing how search engines index websites and their content and what criteria are used for the evaluation.
Optimizing Search Engine Results Using Social Media Marketing (SMM):
Even though companies try to approach many social media users on an individual basis, they are not able to approach each single user. Therefore, it is highly important to increase a brand’s discoverability - especially in the age of the Internet where customers reach for information using web search engines. In this respect, SMM can be used to raise a company’s search engine ran-king. A successful SMM campaign can generate up to thousands of links as viewers share the campaign’s webpage or social network profile with their friends, families, or in case of web influencers (famous bloggers, youtubers, etc.) their audience. Although search engines work with complex algorithms, it can be inferred that the higher the number of links point to a website the higher is its search engine ranking (Weinberg, 2010, p. 32).
Source: Weinberg, T. (2010). Social Media Marketing - Strategien für Twitter, Facebook & Co. Köln: O'Reilly.
The Small World Problem
In tuesday's class, we discussed the fact that one person is connected to another by just six connections. This claim is based on Stanley Milgram's and his associates' study conducted in 1967 to investigate the “small world phenomenon”. For this purpose, he arbitrarily chose senders across the United States who were assigned to forward a booklet to a randomly selected recipient in Boston, MA. Both the sender and the subsequent transmitters were only allowed to forward the booklet to people they knew personally. The result of this study showed that the amount of links in a completed chain averaged six connections. Milgram inferred that only six acquaintances are necessary to link to two randomly chosen people in the USA.
Search engine:
A small Article on Future change on the Google Searching engine which are going to change the ranking of website: The Article
We can say that regarding Google, the sites can be considered like wine: the older, the better.
KEYWORDS IN SEO
Good web page should contain the information that people are looking for. So, while developing the content of any web page its really necessary to find out the important keywords and then to put them in the content of the web page. Basically the keywords can be found easily when u will view as a user or visitor of the web page, find out how the visitor will use the search terms and those search terms will become your most important keywords. Keyword research is very time consuming but if done right, will provide your website a continuous flow of quality targeted traffic.Using the best keywords to describe your web site helps get those searchers to visit your website. In information retrieval a keyword is a word or phrase which describes a concept found in a document. There are different types of keywords:
Primary Keywords- decribe the main content of Web page
Secondary Keywords-they increase the chance of attracting searchers
Tertiary keywords- (about 10)-synonimes of seocndary keywords, increase the possbility to find the page
In tuesday's class we have seen how and why internet is changing the way we do business. Because of all this globalization the world has become flat. Every competitor has because of this technology equal opportunity. So in making business today we should use all this technology in our advantage, we should fast adopt it to our business model. In the video bellow we can see how the technology might or probably will connect everything, and how we should connect in doing business with everybody else (global business, outsourcing). A day made of glass
A short extract from my term paper. It fits the discussion we had about the importance of the sales force in the pharmaceutical and other industries.
“The effective operation of a sales force is a critical element in the profitability of many firms” (Horsky & Nelson, 1996, p. 300). According to Zoltners, Sinha, and Zoltners (2001), practically every company can significantly improve its sales revenues by implementing the right sales force effectiveness initiatives (p. 2). In the pharmaceutical industry physicians, the decision makers in this market, are targeted by the sales force through face-to-face advertising. Physicians are frequently confronted with multiple new drugs and sales representatives (Rangaswamy, Sinha, and Zoltners, 1990, pp. 281-283). As a result of the limited influence on physicians in the complex pharmaceutical market, it is crucial to optimize the sales effort in a way that the highest revenues are achieved, while still maintaining reasonable costs. Because of the high costs of running a sales force, as well as the fact that sales directly impact profitability, sales managers spend a lot of time allocating and optimizing the sales effort (Lodish, 1980, p. 70). The sales force is one of the most powerful groups within the company, as it represents the firm publicly and is entrusted with the most important asset of the company: its customers. Sales representatives work independently, with little direct supervision. Therefore, it is essential to provide an appropriate work environment for the sales force. Motivated sales people who perform the right activities are not sufficient for a successful sales organization. Sales force effectiveness drivers, such as sales force sizing, territory design, and incentive compensation (IC) represent the fundamental set of decisions that impact the entire sales process. (Zoltners et al., 2001, pp. 2-45).
According to a recent survey, more than 80 new websites are created per minute. Plenty of this cater to online business with the motive to make money online.
Thus if you are planning to start a new online business, the competition is gigantic. It is more often than not possible that the idea which you are planning to implement is already there and you have good competition.
In such scenarios, the onus is thus on us to create something which adds extra value. Therefore, while creating a new business, you should clearly outline the Value Proposition, that extra value which your business is contributing to the community/consumers.
Some of the parameters that can be included while outlining Value Proposition are:
Uniqueness
Better Performance
Customized to the customer needs
Online support and assistance for the customers
Attractive designs
Competitive Pricing
Reduce Risk
Easy to use
Google plans major overhaul to search engine
Google in the next few months will start to present more direct and more specific answers at the top of the search-result page.
They will no try to replace its current keyword-search system that works by giving the importance of a website based on several factors like how often other sides link to it or on the words that it contains. Google will try to incorporate a technology called "Semantic Search" in which refers to the process of "understanding the actual meaning of words". By using this technology Google aims to provide more relevant results. This type of search will be able to connect and associate different word with anothers like for example a company (google) with his founders (Larry Page and Sergey Brin).
What Google will try to do is to enter the "next generation of search" in which people can look up for a question like "
"What are the 10 largest lakes in California?" and instead of provide several links that will lead to the answer google will give the answer.
How ranking really works ?
MAke sure we have the right nodes and nodes to websites that are ranked right.
Over time our link is to come on ranked links so that it increases are clicks and takes up higher on the search page.
MAke Sure the words we use are common words that are used my million of users (KEy words).
improving your CTR (click through rate) with AdWords, you achieve the following:
Keep in mind if ur planning to Increase your traffic.
Lower your Cost Per Click ( Rank = Cost Per Click * CTR equation)
Incase we are paying over websites to host our link ,as intially we will not able to play the bartar game.
Ways to use keywords for increasing your CTR:
Create ads that are highly targeted to the keywords in that Ad Group.
Avoid using very general keywords (Doctor).Common word will end up with multiple options,these kinds of words generate a lot of impressions,
but the percent of people that actually click on ads is low.
Focus on using targeted keywords which describe your actual products or service in a rather specific way (Software for doctors and hospitals).
Collect related keywords in targeted Ad Groups.
Value Shop
Value Shop as an organisation has five main generic activities that are carried out:
Problem Finding and acquisition
Problem Solving
Choice of problem solution
Execution of solution
Control and evaluation
How to Implement Encryption & Security in Information Systems This article on eHow.com explains how we can actually implement the network security in the organisation: Security in a computer is vital to the protection of the information it contains. Information systems can be servers or desktop machines with private information. Security on the machine and the network prevents hackers and thieves from retrieving private information. Encryption jumbles the data communicated over the Internet or on the network, so theft of the data stream leaves the hacker with unintelligible information. Combining these two security measures protects private data, reducing the chance of identity theft or the loss of sensitive information.
Add passwords to any shared drive or resource. This includes passwords when logging into workstations or servers, and limiting access to directories. Only allow access to users who are a part of the domain, and restrict the access for the local machine account.
Use encryption on outgoing data such as email. Encryption can be implemented at the server level, or you can purchases a copy of PGP, which is a software that encrypts files, emails and other documents. PGP encrypts data using a key generated on the machine. Users are given a public key to decrypt the information upon receipt. PGP integrates well into email clients like Outlook
Implement a proxy server for outgoing Internet connections. A proxy server allows you to filter and funnel all outgoing Internet connections. This blocks access to sites that pose a risk to the information system security. It also allows you to monitor Internet usage.
Use encryption on wireless connections. Wireless routers have several options for connectivity. If data is not encrypted, the data packets sent over the airways can be hijacked by anyone within range of the signal. The two main wireless encryption options are WPA and WEP. WEP has been found to be less secure than WPA, so set wireless routers to WPA encryption.Use routers that provide firewall capabilities. A firewall is a software application that runs on a router. It blocks incoming communication from anonymous Internet users while allowing internal workstations to access the Internet. For the best security, set your router to block all incoming requests on the router.
This article explains the working of PKE with the traditional Bob and Alice example:
As the world increasingly turns to electronic business, electronic credentials that prove identity are becoming a critical necessity. Much like a passport proves identity in the offline world, public-key infrastructure (PKI) delivers a way to prove identity in the online world. PKI is fast becoming the cornerstone of information security technology for a large number of companies.
PKI ensures that people are who they say they are and also proves that documents haven't been tampered with, which is critical when conducting online transactions, such as placing orders or transferring money. Here's a simplified look at these state-of-the-art passports to the online world.
The magic of PKI occurs through the use of extremely long prime numbers, called keys. Two keys are involved - a private key, which only you have access to, and a public key, which can be accessed by anyone. The two keys work together, so a message scrambled with the private key can only be unscrambled with the public key and vice versa. The more digits in these keys, the more secure the process.
Just as you prove your identity through a handwritten signature offline, you use a digital signature to prove your identity online. But without seeing a person sign the document, how can you prove it's the right person? This is where public-key cryptography comes in. A large piece of data set to be encoded - for instance, a document - is run through a complicated mathematical computation to generate a single large number, called a hash. The original data and the hash are inextricably linked. If either changes, the hash won't match and the message cannot be decoded. To digitally sign a document, a hash is taken of the document and then signed with a user's (let's call him Bob) private key. Data scrambled with Bob's private key can only be unscrambled with Bob's public key. Any entity can verify the validity of the document by unscrambling the hash with Bob's public key and checking that against another hash computed from the received data.
If the hashes match, the data was not tampered with and Bob's digital signature is on it. But because I didn't watch Bob sign the document, I don't know that it wasn't signed by an imposter. This issue is solved because only Bob has his private key, and so he is the only one who could have signed the document. How do I know I have the correct key to verify the signature? This is where the concept of trust enters the system, creating the need for a certificate authority to verify online identity. The certificate authority is like an online passport bureau - a trusted entity that makes the PKI system work. The private key is securely generated by Bob, and after verifying Bob's identity, the certificate authority signs Bob's public key with its own private root key. The combination of Bob's public key and the signature of the certificate authority completes Bob's digital certificate.Bob's digital certificate is his online passport, validated by the certificate authority's watermark.
Let's look at how all this works together in a simple transaction. Bob wants to send Alice a confidential e-mail. Bob would use Alice's public key, stored in her certificate, to scramble the message. When Alice receives the message, she uses her private key to unscramble it. Because no one else possess Alice's private key, only she can unscramble the message. The process is similar in complex transactions. Let's say Bob wants to let Alice order products from his Web site. When Alice is ready to buy, Bob requests that she prove her identity. Alice signs the order with her private key, which was issued by a certificate authority we'll call TrustCo. She then sends the package consisting of the order and the digital signature to Bob.
Bob needs to get Alice's and TrustCo's digital certificate to verify the signature. He validates Alice's certificate by verifying TrustCo's signature (remember TrustCo signs Alice's public key, thus forming the certificate), and then uses Alice's certificate to validate the signature on the order. If all those tests pass, Alice is actually Alice. Like any security technology, digital signatures used in the PKI model aren't perfect. If the certificate authority's root key is stolen, then anyone can create digital certificates, which compromises the trust level of the certificate authority and makes all the certificates from that certificate authority null and void. Certificate authorities go to great lengths to keep their keys secure, including armored bunkers. Additionally, if Bob loses his private key, or if it's stolen, then anyone possessing the private key can pose as Bob.
More importantly, thousands of applications used throughout businesses need to be PKI-ready. Applications need to know how to ask Bob to sign data and how to validate the data using certificates. For PKI to become a widely used technology, it must become a transparent part of everyday software, so end users don't need to understand all the complexity behind keys, hashes and digital certificates.
The last two years has seen a vast change in search – here are five of the key SEO trends for 2012.
SEO trends 2012
The Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) industry is constantly changing as Search Engines try and improve the integrity of search results for users. It’s important for consultants to do constant research, be aware of SEO trends and new developments in the industry. This information is then used to put together online marketing campaigns for clients that reflect current methodologies and produces optimal results. Find out about five key trends for the 2012 year and beyond.
SEO trends 1: Increased focus on quality content
The Google Panda update in February 2011 and subsequent refinements has demonstrated Google’s continued focus on promoting high-quality websites that have valuable and original content such as research, in-depth reports and thoughtful analysis. This in turn has reduced rankings for low-quality sites which are considered by Google to be ‘low-value add for users, sites that copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful’.
SEO trends 2: Increased importance on quality incoming links
Following on from the Panda update, Amit Singhal, Senior VP and Google Fellow announced recently in February 2012 that Google has changed the way in which they evaluate links; in particular, they are turning off a volume oriented method of link analysis that they have used for several years. Rand Fishkin from SEOmoz believes that in 2012, Google’s search quality team will roll out algorithmic changes in how they value low quality links.
SEO trends 3: Emphasis on fresh content
The Google Fresh update increased prominence of pages that have been recently published or updated. The aim is to increase the value of websites that keep up to date with the latest information on topics, especially ones that are time sensitive like sporting results or award show results. Astute marketing teams will be refreshing their content more frequently to take advantage of this algorithm change.
SEO trends 4: Move towards integration of online strategies
2012 will see a move towards integrating SEO with other internet marketing strategies such as social media marketing and article marketing. There will be a growing demand for online marketing agencies that can offer a full package of services allowing a client to deal with one company for all their internet marketing needs. Rand Fishkin says that ‘We’ll start to move away from the title ‘SEO’ to something more all-inclusive…’
SEO trends 5: Increased demand for external SEO Services
Large corporations have long realised that to maintain a high Search Engine visibility, they require a dedicated internal SEO team or consultant. However, in the same way that most in house marketing teams work with specialised marketing consultants such as external media buyers and public relations teams, they may also require the services of an SEO company to cope with the increasingly demanding and growing complexity of search.
If you are managing an in house marketing team and you would like some assistance with your online search campaigns or you are looking for an SEO company to assist you, contact SEO Works today and ask to speak to one of our consultants. It’s an important part of an SEO specialist’s role to keep abreast of SEO trends as changes occur in the SEO industry, empower you with information about search and suggest strategic enhancements to your campaigns where appropriate.
Source : http://www.seoworks.com.au/01-seo-news-views/seo-trends-2012/
Wednesday (21 march)
Web 3.0
An interesting video about the evolution of Internet
Interaction online is moving masses so far that crash the web pages that do this. Or sometimes can have an effect on the behaviors in the social life for benefits as free food or similar. (Class notes)
Gamification to create environment where your behavior is guide by gaming rules, but in real life (so they increase the usage).
Class notes).
One example of gamification we could speak about is the contest Gemey Maybeline, "sensational color" organised in 2009. In fact, they ask for any girl from metropolitan France to send a photo of her with a legend saying "I am sensationnal when....". More than 4000 women participated to this operation and ask for their friend on social network to vote for them every day during a certain period. At the end, 10 women were selected among the 40 most popular.
We can say that this event where a good operation since they had 10 model for free. It satisfied the different step of the pyramid of Zichermanns since it provide stuff (the girls won make-up kit) and they gain power because of the popularity they received from there network (huge number of like on facebook photos).
How can you explain that IE owns more than the half of the total market share ?!
Do people not know about other browsers ? Do they not know how to download them or are they afraid ?
United Break Guitars - How a Viral Youtube song can cost you $180m loss.
"United Breaks Guitars" is a protest song by Canadian musician Dave Carroll. It chronicles a real-life experience of how his guitar was broken during a trip on United Airlines in 2008, and the subsequent apathy from the airline. The song became an immediate YouTube and iTunes hit upon its release in July 2009.It amassed 150,000 views within one day, prompting United to contact Carroll saying it hoped to fix the problem. The video garnered over half a million hits by July 9, 5 million by mid-August 2009, and 10 million by February 2011. The Times newspaper reported that within 4 days of the video being posted online, United Airline's stock price fell 10%, costing stockholders about $180 million in value.
Did you know that Linus Torvalds, the founder of Linux initially wanted to call his invention Freax?
He got up with this word Freax through a combination of three words: freak, free and x.
Initially, he used to store his wok files with the name Freax on his system.
He actually had considered the name Linux (Inspired from his name + an x to make it sound as an illusion to Unix) before but thought it would be too pompous and dismissed it!!
Some SEO tips that can come handy while you design your website:
Here, I present some of the SEO tips that I feel can help your webpage get indexed on the first page of Google Search Engine. This comes from my personal experience and I have tried to implement most of these while developing my website: www.teckilla.com
Google gives more preference to the articles with keywords. So we should ensure to a relevant keyword on our page.
We should try to have unique keyword in our post title. To get more help on this, you can visit Google Adwords.
The keyword should be put within a heading ( H2 & H3 ).
In case of embedded images, the keyword should be in alt tags,
It is also better to have the keywords in your post permalink.
We should keep in mind that Google only indexes the first 70 characters of the title. Hence the title should not be too long.
On the other hand Google generally recommends a minimum word limit of 300 for the articles. So you can plan out the content accordingly.
Normally, the meta description should be restricted to 140 characters and it is better if it contains the primary keywords.
There is a file called robots.txt which controls the crawling of your webpages by the search engine spiders. It is advisable to optimise this file for better crawling.
allows the enterprice to focuns on its main business
easy to maintain
reduction in upfront capital expenditure on hardware or software deplyoment
security
higher efficiency
cost reduction
Cloud Computing Website: Dropbox
Do you know Dropbox? is is the best way to share you document into multiple devices. It will create a folder directly inside your computers which will be synchronise at anytime between all of your devices( Even smartphone and touchpad). So you will save a document on your office computer and he will be save at the same time in your laptop and will be available on your ipad and available everywhere from any computer through internet. It is 10 times better than an usb key.
The account is free and you will get 2,25 GB of use and even extra as student
Cloud computing has a greater potential for employment growth than the Internet did in its early years and it can create hundreds of thousands of jobs, according to a new study.
The study, titled “Job Growth in the Forecast: How Cloud Computing is Generating New Business Opportunities and Fueling Job Growth in the United States,” looked at several ways cloud computing may create jobs and found specifically:
• Eleven cloud computing companies added 80,000 jobs in the US in 2010, and the employment growth rate at these organizations was almost five times than that of the high-tech sector overall.
• Companies selling cloud services are projected to grow revenues by an average of $20 billion per year for the next five years, which has the potential to generate as many as 472,000 jobs in the US and abroad in the next five years.
• Venture capital investments in cloud opportunities are projected to be $30 billion in the next five years, which could add another 213,000 new jobs in the US.
• The economic impact for companies buying cloud services can be even more significant. Cloud computing could save US businesses as much as $625 billion over five years, much of which could be reinvested to create new business opportunities and additional jobs.
Cloud Computing: Plenty of positives with a handful of negatives
Okay, we know Cloud Computing is the buzz word today and it has plenty to offer. However, here are some of the risks associated with it:
The provider has access to your data and can garner insights from it.
In case of downtime when you are not able to access internet, you are crippled and will not be able to work further or access your data on cloud.
In case of dependency between several services, it becomes all the more difficult.
Interoperability issues.
Cloud Computing Concerns Perhaps the biggest concerns about cloud computing aresecurityandprivacy. The idea of handing over important data to another company worries some people. Corporate executives might hesitate to take advantage of a cloud computing system because they can't keep their company's information under lockand key. How will cloud computing affect other industries? There's a growing concern in the IT industry about how cloud computing could impact the business of computer maintenance and repair. If companies switch to using streamlined computer systems, they'll have fewer IT needs. Some industry experts believe that the need for IT jobs will migrate to the back end of the cloud computing system (Strickland, Jonathan: How Cloud Computing Works?)
Advantages of cloud computing Reduced costs Increased storage Highly automated Flexibility More mobility Instant software updates Universal document access Easier group collaboration Device independence
Disadvantages of cloud computing Requires a constant internet connection Can be slow Stored data could be lost Features might be limited
Here is the future gaming experience for every tablette or smartphone. You could play to every game you want simply online with the best possible graphics
It is Online cloud gaming
Cloud desktop:
You can evan acces windows on every tablets and so acces to a lot of windows software simply by cloud
See the potential of cloud computing with Onlive Desktop
Firefox is trying to pass Google request in SSL
Google is currently testing SSL protocol in order to compute Google request in Firefox. There is already the HTTPS system but SSL will be integrated on the next beta version of Firefox. This is a revolution for the search engine because research typed on the toolbar will be done thanks to Google.But now, Goolge takes the decision to compute these request or not.
Google compute also all requests from users connected to their Google account. Specialist of SEO are not enthousiastic with this decision because they cannot anymore access to indicator for web analytics. They especially cannot anymore focus on request typed by internet user before visiting website. It's a big problem for SEO services because the market share of Firefox is increasing and hidden request are more and more present.
If you're looking to learn more on gamification, you can find all the information you need on the Gamification Wiki. You will find videos, definitions, presentations and examples of how companies today are integrating gamification into their business processes.
The State of Gamification in 2012
Gamification is becoming a huge trend in many industries from High schools to Health Care. Check out the link Below to see how this innovation has been implemented within the Health Care System:::::::
Stanford University's Septris app combines gamification of healthcare with CME
iMedicalApps was in touch with Lisa Shieh, one of the lead academics involved in the development of Septris: What first prompted you to use the concept of an game to train healthcare professionals? Lisa Shieh: We used the game concept to develop something new and different. The traditional CME course is usually a day or two of didactic lectures. We wanted to create a learning game that physicians could play anywhere- waiting in line, in the classroom, at home, etc. We also wanted to make it “addictive” enough so that physicians keep on going back to it. The scoring is to foster the competitive spirit in people. The dropping patients give it a sense of urgency. The quizes and tips are to reinforce our learning objectives. What advantages do you think interactive games offer over more traditional CME courses? Lisa Shieh: We believe interactive games actually help physicians to remember more. A case based format (like real patients) is easier to remember than reading a chapter in a textbook. Our pilots with students have been very promising. They continue to play even after the session is over- to “save” the patient. Are there any plans to expand this type of professional education beyond Septris? Lisa Shieh: We hope this game provides the platform for other medical topics. We are in the process of exploring this. We also plan to conduct a research study to see if physicians learn more from this format than other types of teaching methods http://cme.stanford.edu/septris/
Gamification means using the structure of the game to modify human behavior in their daily activities. One of good example is campaign „Plant a tree” organised by TetraPak. Anyone who has planted a virtual tree and watched its growth up to a certain level of plantings plants, receives a certificate and a guarantee that it will be planted in reality, one of the national parks. Action to work on a game - a number of inputs is equal to the level of tree growth. The prize is mostly a satisfaction.
There are various competitions that offer other prizes to win. Every day on social networking sites there are many struggles for the mugs, lanyards, earrings, t-shirts and lots of gadgets that can be used to activate the fans of your business. Just thanks to a simple application.
Another example is the Honda Insight mounted system, which gives the driver points (in the form of produded plants displayed on the dashboard) for economical driving. And people liked to collect points - especially now, when they were used to it over the years to participate in various games. And thanks to that actually tried to save fuel. One of Iphone aplication is loosing weight application.If you dream of losing weight, the app monitores the process and compares the results with others with similar problems.
So far, the biggest Internet users’ involvement are photo contests, where people can post their pictures taken and possibly add an interesting signature. This form is attractive for both Internet users and companies that organize competitions. The reasonis their relatively high flexibility. Theme images does not have anything to do with the profile of the company, and still attracts many fans. All competitions should be regarded as a form of advertising, image buildingand brand awareness. In this form they are almost always excellent tools for realizing our goals, but they need to be properly developed.
Involvement in such a form of advertising can have a great impact on results, as evidenced by the fact that the world'slargest companies in this way gain its popularity. Thanks to it, even a small one-man company mayget crowds of customers. The effectiveness of this form of advertising can be enormous, provided that this will be done with the experienced people.
LINUX CLOUD COMPUTING, THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR CUSTOMERS
With linux cloud computing not only you pay less for license but you can also choose between different platforms, virtualizations, choice that only the open source leader can deliver. This kind of cloudin are using for example Google, and Facebook. More you can read about it here: hadoop
For more private cloding you can be done with open source Eucalyptus. More you can read about it here: Private clouding
About Linus' Law
It is a relevant article about the validity of the Linus' Law:
Every breached security system was once thought infallible
Understand the risks of cloud computing
How cloud hosting companies have approached security
Local law and jurisdiction where data is held
Best practice for companies in the cloud
Every breached security system was once thought infallible
SaaS (software as a service) and PaaS (platform as a service) providers all trumpet the robustness of their systems, often claiming that security in the cloud is tighter than in most enterprises. But the simple fact is that every security system that has ever been breached was once thought infallible.
Google was forced to make an embarrassing apology in February when its Gmail service collapsed in Europe, while Salesforce.com is still smarting from a phishing attack in 2007 which duped a staff member into revealing passwords.
While cloud service providers face similar security issues as other sorts of organisations, analysts warn that the cloud is becoming particularly attractive to cyber crooks.
"The richer the pot of data, the more cloud service providers need to do to protect it," says IDC research analyst David Bradshaw.
Understand the risks of cloud computing
Cloud service users need to be vigilant in understanding the risks of data breaches in this new environment.
"At the heart of cloud infrastructure is this idea of multi-tenancy and decoupling between specific hardware resources and applications," explains Datamonitor senior analyst Vuk Trifković. "In the jungle of multi-tenant data, you need to trust the cloud provider that your information will not be exposed."
For their part, companies need to be vigilant, for instance about how passwords are assigned, protected and changed. Cloud service providers typically work with numbers of third parties, and customers are advised to gain information about those companies which could potentially access their data.
How cloud hosting companies have approached security
As with most SaaS offerings, the applications forming SmartClear's offering are constantly being tweaked and revised, a fact which raises more security issues for customers. Companies need to know, for instance, whether a software change might actually alter its security settings.
"For every update we review the security requirements for every user in the system," Twiggs says.
One of the world's largest technology companies, Google, has invested a lot of money into the cloud space, where it recognises that having a reputation for security is a key determinant of success. "Security is built into the DNA of our products," says a company spokesperson. "Google practices a defense-in-depth security strategy, by architecting security into our people, process and technologies".
However, according to Datamonitor's Trifković, the cloud is still very much a new frontier with very little in the way of specific standards for security or data privacy. In many ways he says that cloud computing is in a similar position to where the recording industry found itself when it was trying to combat peer-to-peer file sharing with copyright laws created in the age of analogue.
"In terms of legislation, at the moment there's nothing that grabs my attention that is specifically built for cloud computing," he says. "As is frequently the case with disruptive technologies, the law lags behind the technology development for cloud computing."
Local law and jurisdiction where data is held
Possibly even more pressing an issue than standards in this new frontier is the emerging question of jurisdiction. Data that might be secure in one country may not be secure in another. In many cases though, users of cloud services don't know where their information is held. Currently in the process of trying to harmonise the data laws of its member states, the EU favours very strict protection of privacy, while in America laws such as the US Patriot Act invest government and other agencies with virtually limitless powers to access information including that belonging to companies.
European concerns about about US privacy laws led to creation of the US Safe Harbor Privacy Principles, which are intended to provide European companies with a degree of insulation from US laws. James Blake from e-mail management SaaS provider Mimecast suspects that these powers are being abused. "Counter terrorism legislation is increasingly being used to gain access to data for other reasons," he warns.
Privacy and security
The Commonwealth government released a “Better Practice Guide” to help Commonwealth agencies address legal issues that typically arise in cloud computing arrangements. The Guide highlights privacy and security as two of the key risks associated with cloud computing. In particular, the Guide indicates that:
to the extent that the data to be transferred into the cloud is personal information (in that it identifies, or could be used to identify, an individual), ensuring compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”) must be a key concern; and
data security is a key risk factor for all cloud computing services, particularly where the data to be transferred to the service provider is sensitive and is to be held offshore. The Guide recommends that the customer should carry out a comprehensive assessment of the service provider’s security procedures (such as encryption levels, access protocols, methods of data aggregation, methods for destroying or sanitising information at the end of the service relationship etc) before transferring data into the cloud.
Foreign government access
Depending on where they are based, cloud computing service providers may be subject to local laws that give foreign authorities rights to access and use their stored data.
For example, the US Patriot Act is designed to give the US government access to information that may help prevent terrorist attacks on their soil. The Act includes provisions that require telecommunications carriers to turn over records and data concerning individual customers if asked to do so by the government. These provisions do not require the government to get a court order, so in effect the Act allows the government to access that information on demand and without any opportunity for objection or public scrutiny.
Customers who are concerned about this level of government intervention may be reluctant to entrust their information to cloud service providers who may store that information in jurisdictions that are subject to these types of laws.
The term "cloud computing" is being bandied about a lot these days, mainly in the context of the "future of the web." But cloud computing's potential doesn't begin and end with the personal computer's transformation into a thin client - the mobile platform is going to be heavily impacted by this technology as well. At least that's the analysis being put forth by ABI Research. Their recent report,Mobile Cloud Computing, theorizes that the cloud will soon become a disruptive force in the mobile world, eventually becoming the dominant way in which mobile applications operate.
You may be wondering: what does the term "mobile cloud computing" really mean? Basically, it refers to an infrastructure where both the data storage and the data processing happen outside of the mobile device. Today, there are already some good examples of mobile cloud computing applications including mobile Gmail, Google Maps, and some navigation apps. However, the majority of applications today still do most of the data storage and processing on the mobile devices themselves and not in the cloud. In a few years, that could change.
Why Mobile Cloud Computing?
With a Western-centric view of the world, it can sometimes be hard to remember that not everyone owns a smartphone. There are still a large number of markets worldwide where the dominant phone is a feature phone. While it's true that smartphones will grow in percentage and feature phones will become more sophisticated in time, these lower-end phones are not going away anytime soon. And it's their very existence which will help drive the mobile cloud computing trend. Not only is there a broader audience using feature phones in the world, there are also more web developers capable of building mobile web applications than there are developers for any other type of mobile device. Those factors, combined with the fact that feature phones themselves are becoming more capable with smarter built-in web browsers (and more alternative browsers available for download), will have an impact on mobile cloud computing's growth.
How Will Mobile Cloud Computing Become a Disruptive Force?
There are two primary reasons why ABI believes cloud computing will become a disruptive force in the mobile world. The first is simply the number of users the technology has the power to reach: far more than the number of smartphone users alone. The second reason has to do with how applications are distributed today. Currently, mobile applications are tied to a carrier. If you want an iPhone app, for example, you have to first have a relationship with the mobile operator who carries the iPhone. If you want a Blackberry app, the same rule applies. But with mobile clouding computing applications, as long as you have access to the web, you have access to the mobile application.
Moves by PaaS Players Could Change Everything
When you think of Plaform-as-a-Service (PaaS), one of the first companies that springs to mind is probably Salesforce. With theirForce.com platform, business applications can be built and run "in the cloud." But Salesforce is not the only major PaaS player out there today -Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google's App Engine are also two platforms that could have a major impact on this trend.
Currently, AWS is used by over half a million developers and Google's App Engine hosts 45,000 applications. Now imagine if those two companies along with Force.com all of a sudden started aggressively marketing their mobile capabilities. Today, neither AWS nor Google offers this, and Salesforce's mobile offering is limited to smartphones (Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and iPhone). But if the companies decided to make building for the mobile web as easy as building for the web, you could have a mobile revolution on your hands.
But People Like Apps!
Saying that "mobile cloud computing" is the future doesn't mean phones will be filled with links to websites that work in any browser instead of special, downloadable applications, some of which you can even purchase. Instead, mobile applications will exist in both formats. As for the downloadable applications themselves, they will still appear to be your typical mobile app - end users won't even notice a difference. However, there will be a difference - it will just be on the back-end. Mobile applications will begin to store your data in the cloud as opposed to on the mobile device, and the applications will become more powerful as processing power is also offloaded to the cloud.
The first mobile apps powered by the cloud will likely be business-focused mobile productivity applications where collaboration, data sharing, multitasking, and scheduling are key factors. For consumers, though, navigation and mapping applications will be the most obvious examples of the trend. Plus, there are some specialty applications today which already function as mobile cloud apps - for example, Schlage offers a remote keyless entry system which lets you mobilely control your home from a distance. You can let someone into your house, manage your lights, your thermostat, your camera system, etc. There are also a few applications in the iPhone app store that let youremotely manage your PC and your DVR, too.
Potential Problems
Of course, there are some potential issues that could be barriers to this shift in mobile computing. The most notable problem is the lack of speedy mobile Internet access everywhere. Here in the US, for example, 3G coverage is spotty outside urban areas, leading to intermittent connection issues and slow speeds. Other markets may have it even worse. However, new technologies like HTML5, which does local caching, could help mobile cloud apps get past those sorts of issues. And there's even a chance that the browser could one day be replaced - at least in some markets - with another technology altogether which provides a better way to access the mobile web. ABI Research mentions initiatives like OMA's Smartcard Web Server, essentially a souped-up SIM card that connects directly with the carrier to push applications to mobile phones. There's also TokTok, a technology that allows access to web services like Gmail and Google Calendar by voice. With voice-enabled search like this, mobile apps could talk directly to the service itself which sits on the edge of the network, as opposed to needing the user to launch a web browser and navigate through the mobile web.
When Will Mobile Cloud Computing Really Take Off?
According to ABI, this change is only a few years away. By 2010, we'll see one or all of the major PaaS players marketing their mobile capabilities, they say. But first, API standards from open-source mobile collaboration group BONDI will go into effect. Later, in 2011, we'll see more of HTML5, and the OneAPI standard will come into play. (OneAPI involves standardized apps for networks allowing developers to consistently access parts of network providers' capabilities, such as location services). All these factors combined will help drive the move to the cloud.
The changes will occur with differing speeds depending on the market. Markets with higher Internet participation will obviously lead the way, as will markets with higher subscriber penetration. That includes Western Europe, North America, and parts of Asia. Other markets will then follow. By 2014, mobile cloud computing will become the predominant application development strategy. By that time, our PCs will be more like thin client devices than they are today, and now it seems our phones will too.
Klout is a company that uses a user’s data from their social media outlets to analyze their influence and network.
Based on this analysis, Klout will generate a “Klout score” on a scale of 1-100, where high scores signify high influence. There are three factors that are “averaged” in order to find this ultimate “Klout score”: “True Reach,” “Network Score,” and “Amplification Score”.
A user’s “True Reach” is indicative of the proportion of his or her friends/followers that are actively engaged: the higher the proportion, the higher the score. True Reach is sort of like a broad view of another factor: the “Amplification Score”. Amplification Scores are generated as a result of data concerning a user’s “True Reach” and the likelihood that the user’s social media contributions will generate action within his or her friends/followers, such as retweets, likes, comments, etc. Lastly, there is the “Network Score,” which is calculated by finding the influence value of a person’s network within their “True Reach”.
So how does Klout make money?
The idea behind the company is to connect businesses with people who have high influence. Companies pay Klout to be able to access data on people with high Klout scores, ultimately deciding whether or not to send those users free merchandise so they can “influence” their friends to buy them as well. Companies see this as a quick, low cost way of getting their brand out there and known by the public.
Overall, Klout has a lot of holes, or things that can be criticized about the program, but I believe the overarching idea of the company is quite good. Klout developers found a necessity of businesses, and made it attractive to the users through gamification. The Klout users earn “badges” every so often when their scores increase, and not only that, the incredibly competitive nature of social media encourages users to constantly try to improve their Klout score, and have the highest influence of all of their friends.
The 4 Myths of Cloud Computing in Business With all the talk about cloud computing and its impact on business, innovation and sustainability, it's important to understand what the cloud is -- and what it isn't. James Staten, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, provided his company's take on the subject this week at the Autodesk University, where cloud computing was Topic A for the annual users conference that drew more than 8,000 people. [Disclosure: Autodesk hosted my stay at the event.] The main advantages cloud computing provides -- connectivity, mobility, flexibility and the power of infinite computing -- are easy to grasp. But less well understood is the definition of clouding computing and its key attributes. Staten sought to bring clarity to the matter in a talk about for four common myths of cloud computing. Myth 1: The cloud is just another name for outsourcing. No, it isn't, said Staten, who offered this definition: What makes a cloud a cloud: A standardized technology capability (services, software or infrastructure) delivered in a pay-per-use, self-service way. The three characteristics -- standardized technology capability, pay-per-use and self-service -- need to be present, said Staten, who warned of "cloudwashing" by vendors and others who mistakenly or deliberately say they have a cloud product, when in fact they don't. Staten added it's important to keep in mind the business model of the cloud. “You never own the cloud," he said. "You always just rent from the cloud.” Myth 2: The cloud is the future for everything. While cloud computing is reshaping the way business is done and how people connect, it will not replace traditional computing even though it may greatly inform it. "Not everything is [or will become] cloud and shouldn't be," said Staten. He and various Autodesk execs pointed out that there are things cloud computing does very well and others best left to traditional computing. "I would submit to you that cloud is inherently good for four things," said Amar Hanspal, Autodesk's senior vice president for platform solutions and emerging business, in another discussion session:
1. Connecting people to each other and connecting devices.
2. Connecting people to information and fresh data in real time.
3. Delivering the power of infinite computing.
4. Making it possible for everyone to have access to design technology, so that in effect everyone can be a designer or participate in the process.
Traditional computing typically involves fixed costs and items, enables varied deployments by a single tenant, is more manual and affords a high degree of control and customization, Staten said. In contrast, cloud computing is characterized by variable costs and items, standardized deployments, multi-tenancy, a high degree of automation, lower levels of customer control and limited customization, he said. The most likely scenario for IT as well as business solutions going forward is a blend of the two, said Staten, pointing to Autodesk's approach for some of its new offerings. Myth 3: The cloud saves you money. A couple of qualifiers need to be added to make that sentence true, according to Staten. "The cloud can be cheaper, if you use it right," he said. He offered car rental as an analogy: Renting a car is a pay-per-use proposition that is cost effective for certain situations but not for those requiring extended or permanent 24/7 use. "For the cloud, you want to put things out there that a) have elasticity and b) transiency," Staten said, "Go up there for a little while and then go back down."
Hackers Stole 174 Million Personal Records in 2011 (And a Ton Were by Anonymous & Co.)
Verizon just put out its annual Data Breach Investigations Report, and you can probably guess what it says: 2011 was a banner year for hackers, and represented a huge statistical comeback. They compromised a total of 174 million records, 100 million of those in activism/for-the-lulz ops by Anon, Lulzsec, and friends.2011 in a nutshell, for the hacking community: The Sony bonanza went on and on, Anon andLulzsec tore up everyone in sight, and we got the best-worst hacker rap video in recent memory. Pretty solid year, right? Well yes, for everyone but the folks who were counting on hackers to stay as boring as they had been.Verizon had hoped that the number of occurrences was on a permanent downward trend: After the total number of compromised records climbed year after year to a crazy 361 million in 2008, it dropped to 144 million in 2009 and just 4 million in 2010. That was while increasing the data sample, too.Mitigating the crazy-high percentage of benevolent, well-intentioned breaches is the fact that almost 75 percent of the time, victims were warned ahead of time that they were about to be obliterated.We've included an embedded copy of Verizon's whole report below.
You're inundated with new contracts, Terms of Service, privacy policies, and disclaimers for every new service you use, but reading them all is next to impossible for a normal human being. To help solve this problem, we've looked at the language of most Terms of Service agreements to come up with the main words and sections everyone should pay attention to.A recent paper from Carnegie Mellon suggests it would take the average Internet user about 76 days to read all their privacy policies. The researchers found that of the top 75 websites, the average length of a privacy policy is 2,514 words. Of course, for every privacy policy a Terms of Service, end user agreement, or other contract also exists. So, how can we feasibly parse all this information without spending 8 hours a day on it?For obvious reasons, the lawyer I spoke with doesn't recommend skimming Terms of Service. If you're using a service or software for a business you should read the entire agreement very carefully. But you and I both know you're not going to read all 23 pages of the iTunes App Store Agreement, so while we respect that position, we're taking a more realistic approach and we'll show you what you can skim past and what you need to pay attention to. I spoke with eDiscovery attorney Mark Lyon to help parse the most important information out of a typical Terms of Service so you can read it quickly and get on with your day.
Skim for The Answers to These Questions in Any Agreement
We'll detail a few specifics for when you're signing up for a free or paid service in the next two sections, but before we get to that, we need to look at a few of the common ideas you find in every agreement you sign. Mark suggests keeping an eye out for a few important terms.
Will my information be shared with third parties (aka affiliated)?
Can I opt out?
Arbitration, where I might give up my rights to sue in court if necessary.
Waivers or releases where I might be giving the company the ability to use my content or be giving up a claim I have against the company.
Sections written in ALL CAPS.
Any section in all caps is worth reading and if you typically don't read the Terms of Service, it's worth at least keeping an eye on those sections. For the others on his list, it's as simple as keeping an eye out for all the key words listed above. Before clicking "I agree," do a quick search (or just CTRL+F) for:
Third parties and affiliates.
Opt-out.
Arbitration (You will find a whole section dedicated to arbitration usually).
Waive or waiver.
A quick search for these terms will draw your attention to only the parts of the agreement that directly affect you. It won't save you from signing a bad agreement every time, but it will help prevent you from agreeing to a contract you can't get out of it. You're looking for signs that your information might be sold to third parties, that you can opt-out of an agreement if you like, and that you can sue if something goes wrong. Let's take a look at a few of the same words and ideas you need to look out for in both free and paid services.
What to Look for When Signing Up for a Free Service
A free service like Facebook or Google comes with a whole different set of rules to follow. Most of the big services use a plain-English approach, but they can still be incredibly time-intensive to read. Mark suggests keeping your eye out for the answers to three questions when signing up for a free service:
What right I have to content?
What uses the provider can make of my content?
How can and can't I use the service?
Subsequently, the above words are what you want to pay attention to. For instance, in Google's Terms of Service, you will find a section titled "Your Content in our Services" that answers the above two questions. You can also search for "content" to find all instances where the Terms mention who owns the content you produce with the service. The third question is answered rather bluntly in Google's case under the "Using our Services" header: "don't misuse our Services." A couple examples Google offers include the fact you can't use any Google assets for your own purposes and you can't access Google services other than through the methods they provide. Most other services will offer the same headline.
What to Look for if You're Buying a Product or Subscribing to a Service
Pretty much everything you purchase has some type of service agreement with it. If you're purchasing software or media, it's pretty simple, but Mark recommends keeping your eye on a few things:
If I'm signing up for entertainment (particularly games and media), I want to be certain that I'm only getting what I expect. Some developers try to slip in additional programs or adware. Usually, when they do this, they try and protect themselves by mentioning the additional (and potentially unwanted) content in the agreement.
Two words to watch out for in a software license are: "rights" and "other content." You will usually find a small section in a software license titled "Disclaimer of other content" or something similar. This is where you will usually find information about any DRM or additional installations not covered by the license.Monthly services are very different. It's important to pay close attention to the cancellation requirements on the agreements you sign with subscription services. Mark offers these two examples where the wording sounds a little fishy: Dollar Shave Club does a good job of explaining how to stop the membership, but requires a vague "reasonable amount of time" to cancel. You might be on the hook for another month. FreeCreditReport.com makes you call to cancel and doesn't offer pro-rated refunds. I try to avoid subscriptions that try and make it hard to unsubscribe. You will usually find unsubscribe information by searching for either "unsubscribe" or "cancel." It's a good idea to look for this information in any subscription-style service, whether it's Netflix or a cell phone contract. Photo by The Consumerist.It's not possible to fully understand a legal contract by just glancing at it, but if you know what matters to you and what to look for, you can quickly skim a Terms of Service to avoid signing up for a service you're not comfortable with. Have you ever found out about something terrible in a Terms of Service after you already agreed to it? Source:How to quickly read a terms of service
Google Caught Bing Stealing Its Search Results
As a boatload more people use Google to search for results than Bing could ever possibly dream of, it's not surprising the Bing team has been caught copying and correcting top misspelled search terms, with data mined from Google's results. The blog Search Engine Land uses the example of "torsoraphy," which Google corrects to the correct spelling of "tarsorrhaphy" and brings up relevant search results for that term. Head on over to Bing and type in that misspelled word, and what do you see? The Wikipedia page for "tarsorrhaphy," but no correction. Apparently Google has been aware of this over close to a year now—but what to do? Google engineers thought long and hard, and set up a sting operation. You can read the whole story over on the Search Engine Land blog, but basically Google concluded that Microsoft was copying Google's results using Internet Explorer. You could argue that if it's not illegal, what's the big issue? If it helps Bing become a better search engine—and maybe even spur on Google to crank the gears a little faster—then surely we should just be happy that everyone's receiving improved search results, no matter what engine they use? Just hear what Google Fellow Amit Singhal thinks about the situation: "it's cheating to me because we work incredibly hard and have done so for years but they just get there based on our hard work...I don't know how else to call it but plain and simple cheating. Another analogy is that it's like running a marathon and carrying someone else on your back, who jumps off just before the finish line." However incredible you and I may find this story, I find it doubtful a heist movie will ever be made about it, sadly. Unless Brad Pitt and George Clooney sink enough money into the production... [Search Engine Land] UPDATED: Naturally, Microsoft's spokespeople have weighed in with "we do not copy Google's results," but tell us what you think?
Spruce Up Your Social Network Profiles Before Applying for a New Job to Boost Your Chances of Getting Hired
Most people (hopefully) know by now to keep their social networks clean, in case anyone from a potential employer to a Google-happy family member stumbles on your profile. However, your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn profile can actually be an asset in helping you stand out when you apply for a job, and sprucing it up a bit with a new photo, updated skills, and recent accomplishments can go a long way. Besides, you know the hiring manager is going to look at your profile before calling you anyway. At this point we should expect potential employers to search for us at Facebook and LinkedIn before they contact us for an interview. It's not news that a hiring manager will review a candidate's resume and then try to dig them up on Facebook to see what kind of person they are before deciding whether they want to interview them. You can boost your odds of standing out in a positive way by sprucing up your profiles as well as your resume before you apply. Wise Bread suggests, among other things, uploading a good-looking recent photo, tidying up personal details and making sure your privacy settings are the way you want them, and—especially at LinkedIn—editing your career goals, personal description, and any other old or out of date information. Request and offer recommendations from old coworkers if you can, and make sure your recent achievements and projects are included in your profile. Wise Bread has a number of other great suggestions, like researching the company culture and the interviewers specifically, so the whole list is worth a look.
World without facebook...
The video shows that Facebook is a considerable network which count more people than lots of countries. It's a tool which became very quickly a daily occupation since it gather numerous functionalities. We can also notice that this famous social network simplify considerably the organization. In fact, you don't have to do one-to-one to see the availability of each one when organizing en event since you can do mass event on Facebook and actualize information which would be autimatically notify to the people invited.
Talk about Viral Marketing, have you seen this video? A simple 30 secs video that went viral is considered as one of the most successful viral advertisements ever.
Take a look:
Short and Simple, isn't it? So, what worked for it?
One of the idea that works well in viral advertising is doing something that is unexpected. Everyone boasts of their product being the best and coolest.
However, doing something different generates a lot of interest.
Remember the bear being attacked by the man, had you seen something like this before? This was something people did not anticipate and it generated lots of interest.
Example of How Social Media can help us to change our way to teach.
The example of Pinterest in the University of Minnesota:
Amazon's EC2, one of the earliest and well known cloud computing platform charges $0.02 to $0.03/hour OR $14.40 to $21.60/month for the smallest "Micro Instance" (t1.micro) virtual machine running Linux or Windows, respectively. High CPU and memory instances cost as much as $2.48/hour. "Reserved" instances can go as low as $6.43/month for a three-year prepaid plan. The data transfer charge ranges from free to $0.12 per gigabyte, depending on the direction and monthly volume while the inbound data transfer is free on all AWS services.
(Source: www.wikipedia.com)
Now compare that with the cost of buying a licensed software/service?? Porter Five Force Analysis for "ORKUT" social media networking:
Threat of Substitute: High
Orkut facing the biggest threat from Facebook which is one of its closest substitutes.
Some of the greatest benefits of Social Networking are: It's inexpensive. It's easy to access.
Rivalry among Competitors: High
There are many players apart from Orkut in the markets that are providing the tools to interact with people.
All the players are fighting for the market share and trying to provide as many new features as possible.
Market Share of all the big players by Jan 2011:
Facebook 63.58%
Youtube 18.87%
MySpace 2.18%
Twitter 1.00%
LinkedIn 0.36%
All the players try to defame the other by negative publicity about the dangers of posting personal information online, and the potential for stalking, identity theft, and general invasion
Threat of New Entrants: High
Social networking and computing is a field of innovation. Everyday companies are coming with new innovative products, games etc. College graduates can also create social networking sites which require only a team of programmers and a batch of servers; both are readily available with a small investment of capital.
Bargaining Power of Buyers: High
Buyer power is high, the advertisers and the premium users may get same services from other social network.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers: High
Supplier (User) power is high because there are many other existing Social Networks.
If the user does not find it exciting he can easily switch to others.
Table of Contents
What can you post here:
UPDATE: 15.30 wikispaces is now accessible also from the Univ. Net.
Monday (19 march)
Innovative funds and network externalities:
www.kickstarter.com is a page to get funds for innovative projects.Network externalities: The value of the company increase with the number of the customers joining the company or system. This is effect can be modelised by the Metcalfe's law which states that the value of a telecommunication network is related to the number of connected users of the system which is equal to n2 where n is the number of nodes in the network.
Like facebook, mobile networks, etc if this is the case the business should find a way to increase the number of nodes and the quality of the channel (setting good policies related to those can be good).
web that can help: http://www.utdallas.edu/~liebowit/palgrave/network.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe's_law
The Social Media Revolution 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eUeL3n7fDs&feature=relatedThis youtube clip demonstrates the power of social media.
What is changing? The evolution of web 3.0
Internet is changing relationships.
- Web 2.0 "is a decade and not a technology" - it's more about defining the character of each era, rather than trying to define a Web era as a set of technologies. So in those terms, if Web 2.0 is equivalent to social web, then Web 3.0 will be the "intelligent web".
- Web 3.0 is a different way of building applications and interacting on the web. The core model of web 3.0 states that entire World Wide Web will be seen as a single database. Many tools are being developed through which interactivity between different websites with different data can be enhanced. Prediction is that Web 3.0 will ultimately be seen as web applications which are pieced together. Another possible path for Web 3.0 is towards a 3 dimensional vision championed by the Web3D Consortium. This would involve the Web transforming into a series of 3D spaces, taking the concept realized by “Second Life” still further. This will open up new ways to connect and collaborate using 3D shared spaces (SYS-CON Media, Inc., 2008)
This video explains the evolution of web 1.0, web 2.0 and web 3.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsNcjya56v8&feature=related
eCommerce Chessboard
eCommerce is about exchanging, purchasing and selling goods and services over computer networks (class notes). The chessboard shows different possible combinations.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
It is an e-commerce model but it is more than that. It is a technology in itself which helps people to directly share computer files and computer resources without having to go through a central web server. To use this, both sides need to install the required software so that they can communicate on the common platform. This type of e-commerce has quite low revenue generation as from the beginning it has been inclined to the free usage due to which it sometimes got entangled in cyber laws.E.x. Bit Torrent, Kazaa
B2B e-commerce
Good example of B2bB is freicht exchange online. This is online service for freight companies, logistics providers, and freight forwarders. It allows transport companies to search announcements for freight, and freight forwarders or logistics providers to offer freight to be transported.B2G e-commerce
One of the best examples of B2G technologies is the GSA Advantage web site. GSA offers a purchasing portal that federal agencies can use to acquire goods and services. GSA Advantage looks similar to most retail B2C e-commerce sites. However, it is specially designed for use by government personnel. Products and services are organized into approximately 20 categories such as building and industrial suppliesSource:
http://www.gxsblogs.com/keifers/2011/07/gsa-advantage-an-example-of-how-b2g-technologies-can-help-to-lower-the-us-federal-deficit.html
China's e-commerce market up 66% to $121 billion
$121 billion
That was the size of China's e-commerce market last year. Online payments in the world's fastest-growing major economy jumped 66 percent from 2010, according to Barclays Capital, and foreign companies like eBay's PayPal unit hope to get a piece of the action. PayPal has applied for a license to process electronic payments in China, potentially challenging local companies such as Alibaba Group's Alipay affiliate.
Hear here
"It's another round of a race to the bottom, and this won't be the last one."Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners, on Amazon.com and Microsoft cutting prices for their Internet-based cloud-computing services. Amazon.com's EC2, which lets customers run their programs on its servers, slashed prices as much as 37 percent on March 5. Microsoft's Azure responded within days with its own cuts. There's a reason the companies want to stay competitive on price: The cloud-services market will more than triple to $72.9 billion between 2010 and 2015, research firm IDC says.
Heads Up
The Creators Project lands at San Francisco's Fort Mason this weekend, offering an alternative to Austin's South by Southwest. The arts and technology festival presents films, panel discussions and installations like United Visual Artists' "Origin," a 40-foot cube that lights up and plays electronic music. Rock bands including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Chinese punk group New Pants will perform today. While free tickets have been scooped up already, Sunday's events are open to all.Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/16/BU5R1NJKK2.DTL#ixzz1pnGtlgdF
BM Canvas- pros and cons
Advantages:
1. Maps changes to existing business models as they evolve or need to pivot differently
2. Sketchs out competitors' positions to explore possible opportunity gaps
3. Simplify implementation of innovations that have an impact on existing business models
4. Accelerates conecpt brainstorming to move into prototyping evaluation and market testing
Disadvantages:
1. Doesn't include a representation of the main business goal
2. It is not based on the numbers, finance and marketing area
3. Doesn't consider the important issue of goal setting
4. Doesn’t consider different business structures of companies whilst comparing
Flow Canvas
This very usefool tool is a different an original way to build a business plan, read this for more information about that:http://www.flowfinders.com/flow-canvas
What Kind of startup is right for u?
Nellie Akalp is the CEO of CorpNet.com, an online legal document filing service, where she helps entrepreneursincorporate or form an LLC for their new businesses. Connect with Nellie directly on Twitter or visit her free resource centerfor more tips!Do you dream of the day you can start your own business? Take control of the reins, set your own schedule and make your own decisions?
In these days of economic uncertainty when layoffs and unemployment rates dominate the news, the idea of starting a business no longer seems all that much riskier than the traditional nine-to-five office job.
Now that you’ve decided to take the plunge into entrepreneurial life, do you know how to choose the type of business that’s right for you? What industry and business would make the best use of your specific abilities and assets? Here are six tips for selecting the business that’s right for you:
1. Align Your Strengths and Interests
Not sure where to focus? Let past experiences be your guide. Maybe you spent six years running marketing programs for a legal firm. Maybe you’re famous for throwing the most creative birthday parties for your children. Consider all previous work experience and hobbies, and think about how you can parlay that into a successful business.
Create a list of skills that covers what you’re good at and areas where you’re a subject matter expert. Then list out the things you like to do. Compare these two lists and see if any patterns emerge, or point to any business type that aligns both your strengths and passions.
2. Don’t Worry About Reinventing the Wheel (Just Make a Better One)
Worried that your business idea isn’t original enough? Many first-time entrepreneurs make the mistake of thinking they need to blaze a new trail to be successful. Yes, the market always needs innovators, but a thriving business doesn’t necessarily have to be disruptive. Think about it. Starbucks wasn’t the first company to sell coffee (even expensive coffee) and will hardly be the last.
Rather than struggling to come up with a brand new idea, take a look at your target industry and see where there’s a void to be filled. My husband and I entered a very established and saturated market, but have been able to differentiate our business by bringing a personal, customer-centric, small business touch.
3. Take the Dinner Party Test
OK. Imagine yourself at a cocktail party, Tweetup or other networking event, and you’re asked that inevitable question: “So, what do you do?” Think about how you’ll respond with each potential business option. Are you proud and excited to describe your new business? Or a little embarrassed and looking to steer the conversation elsewhere?
Playing out this scenario can help you uncover your true feelings about a potential business idea. Not every great business is going to translate well for the cocktail crowd (and that’s OK), but being proud and passionate about your venture is an important key to success.
4. Match Your Funding Situation
When considering business options, you’ll need to be harshly realistic about your financing. The majority of startups fail because they don’t have enough capital to power through the early days. If you don’t have enough capital to realistically support your business and personal financial needs for at least six months to one year, you should consider another business option.
There is some good news on the funding front. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, which measures the overall volume of financing to U.S. small businesses, jumped 18% in January compared with a year ago. This marks the index’s 18th consecutive double-digit rise.
5. Fit Your Lifestyle
If you want to jump into the entrepreneurial game but aren’t quite sure what the business should be, chances are you’re looking for a specific lifestyle. You need to make sure your new business will fit the kind of life you lead, or wish to lead.
For example, if you have family obligations, consider how much time you can spend away from home. If you’re looking for the flexibility to work from a tropical beach one week and the ski slopes the next, make sure you start a business that can be managed virtually. And keep in mind that as a business owner, you may no longer be stuck in a cubicle all day long, but you may still need to be chained to your laptop or phone.
6. Do What You Love, But…
We’ve all heard the saying “Do what you love and the money will follow.” That’s not exactly the case. Yes, passion is important. But in order to turn your passion into a profitable business, you have to fill a need that others are looking for. I happen to adore sitting on the beach, but I’ve yet to translate that into steady income.
Remember that the market isn’t necessarily concerned if you are fulfilling your lifelong dream. Customers spend money on products and services that fulfill their own needs and desires. To turn a profit, focus on how your passion can make a difference to others.
In short, when deciding what business to start, be sure to consult both your head and your heart. Then buckle your seat belt and get ready for an incredibly exciting, tiring and always rewarding ride.
Source : http://mashable.com/2012/03/21/startup-business-tips/
HOW vulnerable ARE YOU ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU_h42Kh7Uo&feature=fvst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGHU8btqrrU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDSCC5iR_DE&feature=related
10 Really stupid online business ideas :)
http://nichegeek.com/10_totally_stupid_online_business_ideas_that_made_someone_rich
Tuesday (20 march)
We saw that plans are useless while planning is priceless. Indeed, you cannot control everything and changes that may happen could hcnage your strategy. That is why fixed plans are useless but planning a flexible strategy according to changes (those you can suppose but alos those you cannot forecast) in necessary.
The Business Model Canvas:
Source: www.businessmodelgeneration.com
Which activities to outsource from a Transaction Costs Economics point of view
Coase (1937) introduced the concept of transaction costs which occur when goods and services are exchanged, but these costs are not connected to the creation of the goods and services and therefore do not add value. The transaction costs can be seen as “costs of making each contract” which Williamson (1985) divides into information, negotiation and observation costs. The underlying assumptions for transactions costs are the information asymmetry, bounded rationality, and opportunism. As a result, contracts are not arriving at the market equilibrium determined by the neoclassical theory (Snieska & Vasiliauskiene, 2009, p. 1019). However, these costs are not only valid for transactions on the market but also in a hierarchy. Since the assumptions also remain appropriate within the company, transaction costs for inventing and running a control system appear due to the aim of avoiding moral hazard and guaranteeing the employees productivity. The basic idea now is to find an organizational design in which the cost of performing an activity, including the ex-ante costs of negotiating and the ex-post costs of monitoring and providing feedback, is minimized (Anrold, 2000, p. 25).Williamson (1985) expanded Coase’s theory and introduced the asset specificity, uncertainty, and frequency of transactions as indicators for insourcing or outsourcing an activity. Figure 1 shows the higher the asset specificity, frequency, and uncertainty of an activity is the more likely it will be insourced. According to Williamson (1985), the asset specificity is the most important aspect of a transaction for the outsourcing decision. It is divided into asset and human capital specificity. A high degree of specificity means that the asset has low or no value for another transaction on the market so that the supplier is locked into such an investment which increases the transaction costs of outsourcing. In contrast to manufacturing activities, Ellram et al. (2008) found that this theory is only partially true for outsourcing services (p. 160). While the TCE premise that companies are less likely to outsource services with high asset specificity holds, services which require the development of high levels of human capital specificity are outsourced. It is argued that the human knowledge and expertise were being developed with the outsourcing of the service. Empirically, this process has not been seen as critical from the companies’ point of view.
In addition, the assumption that a high frequency of a transaction favors its outsourcing has been neglected (Ellram et al., 2008, p. 160). Ellram et al. (2008) argue that services nowadays have low transaction costs due to the advanced information technology which is not comparable with the high variable costs of manufactured goods such as transportation, handling, and inventory costs. As a result, a high frequency is not associated with higher transaction costs on the market leading to the insourcing decision of an activity (p.160).
However, the findings support Williamson’s assumption that a high degree of uncertainty avoids outsourcing of services in the same manner as outsourcing manufacturing activities (Ellram et al., 2008, p. 160). The rationale behind is that a higher uncertainty implies a higher complexity of the outsourcing contract which in turn increases the transaction costs.
Figure1: Model for the outsourcing design of manufacturing activities based on the TCE theory
Source: Amended from Anrold, 2000, p. 25
The TCE perspective which focuses mainly on the operational level for cost reductions through the minimization of production and transactions costs (Figure 1) and the adjusted indicators lead to the conclusion that the outsourcing of services is reasonable. However, this view seems to be limited in the long term. In fact, the RBT has to be taken into account as a complementary theory to understand the strategic decision of companies in favor of internal outsourcing of services instead of external outsourcing (Barrar & Gervais, 2006, p. 78).
Outsourcing decisions clearly affect the cost structure of a company, but also affect the competitiveness in the long run. The competitive advantage which legitimates the existence of a company results from its strategy and its organizational design. Moreover, Barney (1991) summarizes a strategy to create a sustainable competitive advantage when it is “not being implemented by any current or potential competitors and when these other firms are unable to duplicate the benefits of this strategy” (p. 102). While Porter (1986) postulated that the organizational design resulted out of the strategy, Prahalad and Hamel’s findings (1990) suggested that these two elements are interdependent (pp. 79-91). Thus, based on the RBT the organizational design has to be in line with the strategy of a company to be able to establish a competitive advantage.
Based on the TCE theory and the argument that companies should focus on the core competencies the outsourcing of manufacturing activities in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s was justified (Kotabe & Murray, 2004, p. 10). In addition, the outsourcing of activities decreases the fixed investment in equity resulting in an increased return on equity. Depending on the compensation scheme for the management, a further incentive for strong outsourcing could be cteated. However, according to Kotabe and Murray (2004), the outsourcing of activities to independent external sources creates a dependency and leads to a loss of competitive advantage in the long run (p. 12). The loss of tacit knowledge which could be otherwise allowed breakthrough thinking in other areas is seen as the reason for the loss of the global competitiveness in the long run (Amaral et al. 2006). Furthermore, the vanishing degree of differentiation caused by the outsourcing of activities to the same suppliers leads as well to the loss of the competitive advantage (Dyer et al., 1988).
Thus, internal outsourcing with a higher degree of hierarchical coordination can be used to obtain the best of both worlds (Kotabe & Murray, 2004, p. 11). There are many hybrid forms such as SSC, cooperations, capital investments, etc. in which the activities can be designed to operate more efficiently while maintaining the competitive advantage in the long term.
Open source Operating systems in french companies
This recent study is analyzing the number of fench companies using Open source operating systems in function of different sectors. 21% of french companies with at least 10 employees ar using an open source OS (26% for companies between 20 and 250 employees).
Whereas previous studies have declare that Open source software were rarely used. This study is bringing new figures with 1 company on 5 that is working with this software. It appears that trend is really growing.
Concerning the different sectors, the following chart is explaining the repartition.
This chart is putting information and communication at the first step. Conctruction and housing sectors are the last one. Companies with more than 250 employees are the main users of the open sources OS.
This article is linked with growing claims against Microsoft office. In this case 43% of companies under 250 employees are using open sources bureautic tools. Over 250 employees, only 33% companies are using these softwares.
Source: Article from ZDnet.fr
Published the 20/03/2012
Figures from Insee
==
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Red Hat: How Open Source makes money
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Sbscription
- Paid support
- Training and Certification
- Other enterprise products like JBoss
- A detailed description is here http://asay.blogspot.fr/2006/01/red-hat-mother-of-all-open-source.html
( - Parimal Das)Amazon Business Canvas for Kindle:
- http://www.slideshare.net/Vlacke/amazon-business-model
- Check slide 21 for Business Canvas
( - Parimal Das)- Flexible interpretation:
Let's take an example of a sofware company. Customers might use the software in a different way than first intended when they made it. In other words customers might use the software for something the software makers weren't expecting. This is why it is important to test products before releasing them into the market.- Copyrights and CRM tool and or guide:
Copyrights or royalties are benefits that impulse companies to do investigation and research, but in SW industries is not enough (also in many other business), so what they are doing is updating and creating changes continuously to be better than before so they can be less copied and get more value.www.salesforce.com CRM management tool and can help to have ideas or guides.
Effeciency vs Effectiveness:
Both these words are often considered synonymous and on many occasions confused with each other.
However, they actually are two different management terms.
Efficiency basically refers to the ratio between Output and Input. It is like getting the maximum output with minimum available resources.
While Effectiveness refers to how well your execution of the process actually attains the intended goal.
While efficiency generally looks at avoiding mistakes, effectiveness looks at achieving success.
How to play by the adword rules?
If you don’t play by the rules, then you can’t play at all. Google AdWords are like any other game, there are rules that you have to follow. But hey, this just helps to even out the playing field an more than anything, it keeps the fans involved. So what are these rules? They are known as the AdWords Policies. Here is a quick overview of the main policies to keep in mind.
First of all, there are editorial guidelines. We discussed these earlier when we were looking at setting up a variety of text ads. If you remember, there are certain character limits that your web copy has to fit within. Another guideline on the ad copy is for prices, discounts and free offers. If you have any of these types of special offers advertised within the ad copy, the landing page of that ad has to clearly direct the user to the special offer within 1 to 2 clicks.
The next policy type has to do with the content of the website. For example, if your site is a gambling site there are certain regions where you are not permitted to advertise that business service via Google. There are also times where your business model or practice may be determined to be unacceptable by Google and the ads will be banned. This is not as strict of a rule, it is more of one of those grey areas within the AdWords Terms and Conditions where Google can do what it wants. I would imagine that as long as your business is legal and you are not trying to deceive your site visitors then you should be good to go on this one.
The last main policy line item which is important has to do with the links you provide. First of all, you have to display an accurate base URL. This is to give the users and idea of where they may be visiting. The key here is that this does not have to be the correct extension. For example, if your ad takes a visitor to the following page:
http://MyBestFriend.com/blahblahblah.html
Well, this does not look very enticing, especially if your ad is about sending your best friend a birthday card. So, you could have the display URL read:
http://MyBestFriend.com/BirthdayEcard
Get it? Got it. Good.
Okay, the next one has to do with pop-ups. Pop up advertising has been so abused that Google no longer allows you to have a pop-up of any type on the landing page from your ad. Now, if you insist on using a pop-up just put it later on in the sales funnel. Because again, if you have this set up within the landing page, your ad will ultimately be blocked once Google reviews it. On a similar topic, there are affiliate URLs. You cannot use a destination URL which just poses as a redirect or otherwise routes you over to another website. As I understand this, that does not mean that you cannot have affiliate links on your landing page, it just means that you have to have a valid page where the user chooses to click or not to click on your affiliate link.
Lastly, there are the adult content websites. Nearly everyone has typed in some URL the incorrect way and found that they have landed on an inappropriate web site. Google has set up a variety of restrictions to help keep search clean. First of all, you may have noticed an option for ‘safe search.’ If this filter is on in your Google search then you will not receive any ads for adult content websites. As well, if you happen to be a website owner of an adult site, when you submit your ad to Google they will assign it to a class. This class will be either family safe, non-family safe, or adult. Adult ads will not appear in a variety of countries like China, Korea and India. Also, the adult ads will not appear for non adult searches. So, if you are trying to be deceptive (which you should not do) and you place a bunch of non-adult related keywords to your adult web site, Google knows whats up and they will restrict your ad. So, just play fair.
This small video explains how to do keywords research with Google Adwords keywords tool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x25hA6jz3Y4
Search Engine Optimization:
What is SEO?
In this video you have a quick and easy to understand overview of SEO.
It talks about what things you should consider in order to put your website on top of the search list
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF515-0Tduk
Search engine optimization (SEO) describes the process through which the visibility of a website is tried to be improved in search engines. By the term visibility the "natural," or un-paid search results are considered. In general, the higher ranked on the search results page and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users.
Within the framework of search engine optimization the techniques and algorithms of search engines are investigated. The search engine operators only partially disclose and frequently change their algorithms to aggravate abuse and provide the user with relevant results. That's the reason why the unknown and secret techniques are examined by reverse engineering of the search results. Thereby, analyzing how search engines index websites and their content and what criteria are used for the evaluation.
Spidertool (SEO)
A better spidertool thanhttp://www.webconfs.com/search-engine-spider-simulator.php
is (newer technology):
http://www.seo-visuals.com
Optimizing Search Engine Results Using Social Media Marketing (SMM):
Even though companies try to approach many social media users on an individual basis, they are not able to approach each single user. Therefore, it is highly important to increase a brand’s discoverability - especially in the age of the Internet where customers reach for information using web search engines. In this respect, SMM can be used to raise a company’s search engine ran-king. A successful SMM campaign can generate up to thousands of links as viewers share the campaign’s webpage or social network profile with their friends, families, or in case of web influencers (famous bloggers, youtubers, etc.) their audience. Although search engines work with complex algorithms, it can be inferred that the higher the number of links point to a website the higher is its search engine ranking (Weinberg, 2010, p. 32).
Source: Weinberg, T. (2010). Social Media Marketing - Strategien für Twitter, Facebook & Co. Köln: O'Reilly.
The Small World Problem
In tuesday's class, we discussed the fact that one person is connected to another by just six connections. This claim is based on Stanley Milgram's and his associates' study conducted in 1967 to investigate the “small world phenomenon”. For this purpose, he arbitrarily chose senders across the United States who were assigned to forward a booklet to a randomly selected recipient in Boston, MA. Both the sender and the subsequent transmitters were only allowed to forward the booklet to people they knew personally. The result of this study showed that the amount of links in a completed chain averaged six connections. Milgram inferred that only six acquaintances are necessary to link to two randomly chosen people in the USA.
Search engine:
A small Article on Future change on the Google Searching engine which are going to change the ranking of website: The Article
We can say that regarding Google, the sites can be considered like wine: the older, the better.
KEYWORDS IN SEO
Good web page should contain the information that people are looking for. So, while developing the content of any web page its really necessary to find out the important keywords and then to put them in the content of the web page. Basically the keywords can be found easily when u will view as a user or visitor of the web page, find out how the visitor will use the search terms and those search terms will become your most important keywords.Keyword research is very time consuming but if done right, will provide your website a continuous flow of quality targeted traffic.Using the best keywords to describe your web site helps get those searchers to visit your website. In information retrieval a keyword is a word or phrase which describes a concept found in a document.
There are different types of keywords:
- Primary Keywords- decribe the main content of Web page
- Secondary Keywords-they increase the chance of attracting searchers
- Tertiary keywords- (about 10)-synonimes of seocndary keywords, increase the possbility to find the page
- Keywords in Action
Article about keywords:http://www.inc.com/guide/2010/06/picking-effective-seo-keywords.html
THE WORLD IS BECOMING FLATTER
In tuesday's class we have seen how and why internet is changing the way we do business. Because of all this globalization the world has become flat. Every competitor has because of this technology equal opportunity. So in making business today we should use all this technology in our advantage, we should fast adopt it to our business model. In the video bellow we can see how the technology might or probably will connect everything, and how we should connect in doing business with everybody else (global business, outsourcing).
A day made of glass
A short extract from my term paper. It fits the discussion we had about the importance of the sales force in the pharmaceutical and other industries.
“The effective operation of a sales force is a critical element in the profitability of many firms” (Horsky & Nelson, 1996, p. 300). According to Zoltners, Sinha, and Zoltners (2001), practically every company can significantly improve its sales revenues by implementing the right sales force effectiveness initiatives (p. 2). In the pharmaceutical industry physicians, the decision makers in this market, are targeted by the sales force through face-to-face advertising. Physicians are frequently confronted with multiple new drugs and sales representatives (Rangaswamy, Sinha, and Zoltners, 1990, pp. 281-283). As a result of the limited influence on physicians in the complex pharmaceutical market, it is crucial to optimize the sales effort in a way that the highest revenues are achieved, while still maintaining reasonable costs. Because of the high costs of running a sales force, as well as the fact that sales directly impact profitability, sales managers spend a lot of time allocating and optimizing the sales effort (Lodish, 1980, p. 70). The sales force is one of the most powerful groups within the company, as it represents the firm publicly and is entrusted with the most important asset of the company: its customers. Sales representatives work independently, with little direct supervision. Therefore, it is essential to provide an appropriate work environment for the sales force. Motivated sales people who perform the right activities are not sufficient for a successful sales organization. Sales force effectiveness drivers, such as sales force sizing, territory design, and incentive compensation (IC) represent the fundamental set of decisions that impact the entire sales process. (Zoltners et al., 2001, pp. 2-45).
According to a recent survey, more than 80 new websites are created per minute. Plenty of this cater to online business with the motive to make money online.
Thus if you are planning to start a new online business, the competition is gigantic. It is more often than not possible that the idea which you are planning to implement is already there and you have good competition.In such scenarios, the onus is thus on us to create something which adds extra value. Therefore, while creating a new business, you should clearly outline the Value Proposition, that extra value which your business is contributing to the community/consumers.
Some of the parameters that can be included while outlining Value Proposition are:
Uniqueness
Better Performance
Customized to the customer needs
Online support and assistance for the customers
Attractive designs
Competitive Pricing
Reduce Risk
Easy to use
Google plans major overhaul to search engine
Google in the next few months will start to present more direct and more specific answers at the top of the search-result page.
They will no try to replace its current keyword-search system that works by giving the importance of a website based on several factors like how often other sides link to it or on the words that it contains. Google will try to incorporate a technology called "Semantic Search" in which refers to the process of "understanding the actual meaning of words". By using this technology Google aims to provide more relevant results. This type of search will be able to connect and associate different word with anothers like for example a company (google) with his founders (Larry Page and Sergey Brin).
What Google will try to do is to enter the "next generation of search" in which people can look up for a question like "
"What are the 10 largest lakes in California?" and instead of provide several links that will lead to the answer google will give the answer.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/15/google-plans-major-overhaul-to-search-engine/#ixzz1pkE6tQEI
Search Engine working
How ranking really works ?
MAke sure we have the right nodes and nodes to websites that are ranked right.
Over time our link is to come on ranked links so that it increases are clicks and takes up higher on the search page.
MAke Sure the words we use are common words that are used my million of users (KEy words).
improving your CTR (click through rate) with AdWords, you achieve the following:
Keep in mind if ur planning to Increase your traffic.
Lower your Cost Per Click ( Rank = Cost Per Click * CTR equation)
Incase we are paying over websites to host our link ,as intially we will not able to play the bartar game.
Ways to use keywords for increasing your CTR:
Create ads that are highly targeted to the keywords in that Ad Group.
Avoid using very general keywords (Doctor).Common word will end up with multiple options,these kinds of words generate a lot of impressions,
but the percent of people that actually click on ads is low.
Focus on using targeted keywords which describe your actual products or service in a rather specific way (Software for doctors and hospitals).
Collect related keywords in targeted Ad Groups.
Value Shop
Value Shop as an organisation has five main generic activities that are carried out:How to Implement Encryption & Security in Information Systems
This article on eHow.com explains how we can actually implement the network security in the organisation:
Security in a computer is vital to the protection of the information it contains. Information systems can be servers or desktop machines with private information. Security on the machine and the network prevents hackers and thieves from retrieving private information. Encryption jumbles the data communicated over the Internet or on the network, so theft of the data stream leaves the hacker with unintelligible information. Combining these two security measures protects private data, reducing the chance of identity theft or the loss of sensitive information.
Source: How to Implement Encryption & Security in Information Systems
Public Key Encryption(PKE)
This article explains the working of PKE with the traditional Bob and Alice example:
As the world increasingly turns to electronic business, electronic credentials that prove identity are becoming a critical necessity. Much like a passport proves identity in the offline world, public-key infrastructure (PKI) delivers a way to prove identity in the online world.
PKI is fast becoming the cornerstone of information security technology for a large number of companies.
PKI ensures that people are who they say they are and also proves that documents haven't been tampered with, which is critical when conducting online transactions, such as placing orders or transferring money. Here's a simplified look at these state-of-the-art passports to the online world.
The magic of PKI occurs through the use of extremely long prime numbers, called keys. Two keys are involved - a private key, which only you have access to, and a public key, which can be accessed by anyone. The two keys work together, so a message scrambled with the private key can only be unscrambled with the public key and vice versa. The more digits in these keys, the more secure the process.
Just as you prove your identity through a handwritten signature offline, you use a digital signature to prove your identity online. But without seeing a person sign the document, how can you prove it's the right person?
This is where public-key cryptography comes in. A large piece of data set to be encoded - for instance, a document - is run through a complicated mathematical computation to generate a single large number, called a hash. The original data and the hash are inextricably linked. If either changes, the hash won't match and the message cannot be decoded.
To digitally sign a document, a hash is taken of the document and then signed with a user's (let's call him Bob) private key. Data scrambled with Bob's private key can only be unscrambled with Bob's public key. Any entity can verify the validity of the document by unscrambling the hash with Bob's public key and checking that against another hash computed from the received data.
If the hashes match, the data was not tampered with and Bob's digital signature is on it. But because I didn't watch Bob sign the document, I don't know that it wasn't signed by an imposter. This issue is solved because only Bob has his private key, and so he is the only one who could have signed the document.
How do I know I have the correct key to verify the signature? This is where the concept of trust enters the system, creating the need for a certificate authority to verify online identity.
The certificate authority is like an online passport bureau - a trusted entity that makes the PKI system work. The private key is securely generated by Bob, and after verifying Bob's identity, the certificate authority signs Bob's public key with its own private root key. The combination of Bob's public key and the signature of the certificate authority completes Bob's digital certificate.Bob's digital certificate is his online passport, validated by the certificate authority's watermark.
Let's look at how all this works together in a simple transaction. Bob wants to send Alice a confidential e-mail. Bob would use Alice's public key, stored in her certificate, to scramble the message. When Alice receives the message, she uses her private key to unscramble it. Because no one else possess Alice's private key, only she can unscramble the message.
The process is similar in complex transactions. Let's say Bob wants to let Alice order products from his Web site. When Alice is ready to buy, Bob requests that she prove her identity. Alice signs the order with her private key, which was issued by a certificate authority we'll call TrustCo. She then sends the package consisting of the order and the digital signature to Bob.
Bob needs to get Alice's and TrustCo's digital certificate to verify the signature. He validates Alice's certificate by verifying TrustCo's signature (remember TrustCo signs Alice's public key, thus forming the certificate), and then uses Alice's certificate to validate the signature on the order. If all those tests pass, Alice is actually Alice.
Like any security technology, digital signatures used in the PKI model aren't perfect. If the certificate authority's root key is stolen, then anyone can create digital certificates, which compromises the trust level of the certificate authority and makes all the certificates from that certificate authority null and void. Certificate authorities go to great lengths to keep their keys secure, including armored bunkers. Additionally, if Bob loses his private key, or if it's stolen, then anyone possessing the private key can pose as Bob.
More importantly, thousands of applications used throughout businesses need to be PKI-ready. Applications need to know how to ask Bob to sign data and how to validate the data using certificates. For PKI to become a widely used technology, it must become a transparent part of everyday software, so end users don't need to understand all the complexity behind keys, hashes and digital certificates.
The last two years has seen a vast change in search – here are five of the key SEO trends for 2012.
SEO trends 1: Increased focus on quality content
The Google Panda update in February 2011 and subsequent refinements has demonstrated Google’s continued focus on promoting high-quality websites that have valuable and original content such as research, in-depth reports and thoughtful analysis. This in turn has reduced rankings for low-quality sites which are considered by Google to be ‘low-value add for users, sites that copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful’.SEO trends 2: Increased importance on quality incoming links
Following on from the Panda update, Amit Singhal, Senior VP and Google Fellow announced recently in February 2012 that Google has changed the way in which they evaluate links; in particular, they are turning off a volume oriented method of link analysis that they have used for several years. Rand Fishkin from SEOmoz believes that in 2012, Google’s search quality team will roll out algorithmic changes in how they value low quality links.SEO trends 3: Emphasis on fresh content
The Google Fresh update increased prominence of pages that have been recently published or updated. The aim is to increase the value of websites that keep up to date with the latest information on topics, especially ones that are time sensitive like sporting results or award show results. Astute marketing teams will be refreshing their content more frequently to take advantage of this algorithm change.SEO trends 4: Move towards integration of online strategies
2012 will see a move towards integrating SEO with other internet marketing strategies such as social media marketing and article marketing. There will be a growing demand for online marketing agencies that can offer a full package of services allowing a client to deal with one company for all their internet marketing needs. Rand Fishkin says that ‘We’ll start to move away from the title ‘SEO’ to something more all-inclusive…’SEO trends 5: Increased demand for external SEO Services
Large corporations have long realised that to maintain a high Search Engine visibility, they require a dedicated internal SEO team or consultant. However, in the same way that most in house marketing teams work with specialised marketing consultants such as external media buyers and public relations teams, they may also require the services of an SEO company to cope with the increasingly demanding and growing complexity of search.If you are managing an in house marketing team and you would like some assistance with your online search campaigns or you are looking for an SEO company to assist you, contact SEO Works today and ask to speak to one of our consultants. It’s an important part of an SEO specialist’s role to keep abreast of SEO trends as changes occur in the SEO industry, empower you with information about search and suggest strategic enhancements to your campaigns where appropriate.
Source :
http://www.seoworks.com.au/01-seo-news-views/seo-trends-2012/
Wednesday (21 march)
Web 3.0
An interesting video about the evolution of Internet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=off08As3siM&feature=related
- Online interaction and gamification:
Interaction online is moving masses so far that crash the web pages that do this. Or sometimes can have an effect on the behaviors in the social life for benefits as free food or similar. (Class notes)Gamification to create environment where your behavior is guide by gaming rules, but in real life (so they increase the usage).
Class notes).
One example of gamification we could speak about is the contest Gemey Maybeline, "sensational color" organised in 2009. In fact, they ask for any girl from metropolitan France to send a photo of her with a legend saying "I am sensationnal when....". More than 4000 women participated to this operation and ask for their friend on social network to vote for them every day during a certain period. At the end, 10 women were selected among the 40 most popular.
We can say that this event where a good operation since they had 10 model for free. It satisfied the different step of the pyramid of Zichermanns since it provide stuff (the girls won make-up kit) and they gain power because of the popularity they received from there network (huge number of like on facebook photos).
How is SSL Working?
This image comes from
http://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0&qpcustomd=0
How can you explain that IE owns more than the half of the total market share ?!
Do people not know about other browsers ? Do they not know how to download them or are they afraid ?
United Break Guitars - How a Viral Youtube song can cost you $180m loss.
"United Breaks Guitars" is a protest song by Canadian musician Dave Carroll. It chronicles a real-life experience of how his guitar was broken during a trip on United Airlines in 2008, and the subsequent apathy from the airline. The song became an immediate YouTube and iTunes hit upon its release in July 2009.It amassed 150,000 views within one day, prompting United to contact Carroll saying it hoped to fix the problem. The video garnered over half a million hits by July 9, 5 million by mid-August 2009, and 10 million by February 2011. The Times newspaper reported that within 4 days of the video being posted online, United Airline's stock price fell 10%, costing stockholders about $180 million in value.
The song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozoThe Story: http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/music/ubg/story/The POWER of Social Media :)
(- Parimal DAS)
Did you know that Linus Torvalds, the founder of Linux initially wanted to call his invention Freax?
He got up with this word Freax through a combination of three words: freak, free and x.Initially, he used to store his wok files with the name Freax on his system.
He actually had considered the name Linux (Inspired from his name + an x to make it sound as an illusion to Unix) before but thought it would be too pompous and dismissed it!!
Some SEO tips that can come handy while you design your website:
Here, I present some of the SEO tips that I feel can help your webpage get indexed on the first page of Google Search Engine. This comes from my personal experience and I have tried to implement most of these while developing my website: www.teckilla.comGoogle gives more preference to the articles with keywords. So we should ensure to a relevant keyword on our page.
We should keep in mind that Google only indexes the first 70 characters of the title. Hence the title should not be too long.
On the other hand Google generally recommends a minimum word limit of 300 for the articles. So you can plan out the content accordingly.
Normally, the meta description should be restricted to 140 characters and it is better if it contains the primary keywords.
There is a file called robots.txt which controls the crawling of your webpages by the search engine spiders. It is advisable to optimise this file for better crawling.
What is cloud computing?
What is cloud computing?
Cloud Computing Benefits
Cloud Computing Website: Dropbox
Do you know Dropbox? is is the best way to share you document into multiple devices. It will create a folder directly inside your computers which will be synchronise at anytime between all of your devices( Even smartphone and touchpad). So you will save a document on your office computer and he will be save at the same time in your laptop and will be available on your ipad and available everywhere from any computer through internet. It is 10 times better than an usb key.
The account is free and you will get 2,25 GB of use and even extra as student
Dropbox Click here
Cloud computing 'will create thousands of jobs'
Cloud computing has a greater potential for employment growth than the Internet did in its early years and it can create hundreds of thousands of jobs, according to a new study.
The study, titled “Job Growth in the Forecast: How Cloud Computing is Generating New Business Opportunities and Fueling Job Growth in the United States,” looked at several ways cloud computing may create jobs and found specifically:
• Eleven cloud computing companies added 80,000 jobs in the US in 2010, and the employment growth rate at these organizations was almost five times than that of the high-tech sector overall.
• Companies selling cloud services are projected to grow revenues by an average of $20 billion per year for the next five years, which has the potential to generate as many as 472,000 jobs in the US and abroad in the next five years.
• Venture capital investments in cloud opportunities are projected to be $30 billion in the next five years, which could add another 213,000 new jobs in the US.
• The economic impact for companies buying cloud services can be even more significant. Cloud computing could save US businesses as much as $625 billion over five years, much of which could be reinvested to create new business opportunities and additional jobs.
read more : http://www.tradearabia.com/news/IT_214560.html
Cloud Computing: Plenty of positives with a handful of negatives
Okay, we know Cloud Computing is the buzz word today and it has plenty to offer. However, here are some of the risks associated with it:The provider has access to your data and can garner insights from it.
In case of downtime when you are not able to access internet, you are crippled and will not be able to work further or access your data on cloud.
In case of dependency between several services, it becomes all the more difficult.
Interoperability issues.
Cloud Computing Concerns
Perhaps the biggest concerns about cloud computing are security and privacy. The idea of handing over important data to another company worries some people. Corporate executives might hesitate to take advantage of a cloud computing system because they can't keep their company's information under lock and key. How will cloud computing affect other industries? There's a growing concern in the IT industry about how cloud computing could impact the business of computer maintenance and repair. If companies switch to using streamlined computer systems, they'll have fewer IT needs. Some industry experts believe that the need for IT jobs will migrate to the back end of the cloud computing system (Strickland, Jonathan: How Cloud Computing Works?)
Advantages of cloud computing
Reduced costs
Increased storage
Highly automated
Flexibility
More mobility
Instant software updates
Universal document access
Easier group collaboration
Device independence
Disadvantages of cloud computing
Requires a constant internet connection
Can be slow
Stored data could be lost
Features might be limited
Cloud Computing- risk
Video:Cloud Computing- risk
Cloud Gaming:
Here is the future gaming experience for every tablette or smartphone. You could play to every game you want simply online with the best possible graphics
It is Online cloud gaming
Cloud desktop:
You can evan acces windows on every tablets and so acces to a lot of windows software simply by cloud
See the potential of cloud computing with Onlive Desktop
Firefox is trying to pass Google request in SSL
Google is currently testing SSL protocol in order to compute Google request in Firefox. There is already the HTTPS system but SSL will be integrated on the next beta version of Firefox. This is a revolution for the search engine because research typed on the toolbar will be done thanks to Google.But now, Goolge takes the decision to compute these request or not.
Google compute also all requests from users connected to their Google account. Specialist of SEO are not enthousiastic with this decision because they cannot anymore access to indicator for web analytics. They especially cannot anymore focus on request typed by internet user before visiting website. It's a big problem for SEO services because the market share of Firefox is increasing and hidden request are more and more present.
Source :
http://www.journaldunet.com/solutions/analytics/firefox-google-bientot-en-ssl-0312.shtml
Prevalent Game Dynamics now
- Appointment Dynamics - Farmville / Vitality / Happy Hour
- Influence and Status - Modern warfare / Credit Cards / School report card
- Progression dynamics - LinkedIn / Warcraft / SCVNGR
- Communal Discovery - Digg / McD Monopoly / DARPA Baloon Challange
A TEDX Boston video explaining by founder of SCVNGR App- The game layer on top of the world - Web 3.0
- Transition forward from Social layer
- Facebook as a platform (Open Graph Protocol)
http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_priebatsch_the_game_layer_on_top_of_the_world.htmlhttp://www.scvngr.com/This is the future guys :)(-Parimal DAS)Where can I learn more about Gamification ?
If you're looking to learn more on gamification, you can find all the information you need on the Gamification Wiki. You will find videos, definitions, presentations and examples of how companies today are integrating gamification into their business processes.
The State of Gamification in 2012
Gamification is becoming a huge trend in many industries from High schools to Health Care. Check out the link Below to see how this innovation has been implemented within the Health Care System:::::::
Stanford University's Septris app combines gamification of healthcare with CME
iMedicalApps was in touch with Lisa Shieh, one of the lead academics involved in the development of Septris:
What first prompted you to use the concept of an game to train healthcare professionals?
Lisa Shieh: We used the game concept to develop something new and different. The traditional CME course is usually a day or two of didactic lectures. We wanted to create a learning game that physicians could play anywhere- waiting in line, in the classroom, at home, etc. We also wanted to make it “addictive” enough so that physicians keep on going back to it. The scoring is to foster the competitive spirit in people. The dropping patients give it a sense of urgency. The quizes and tips are to reinforce our learning objectives.
What advantages do you think interactive games offer over more traditional CME courses?
Lisa Shieh: We believe interactive games actually help physicians to remember more. A case based format (like real patients) is easier to remember than reading a chapter in a textbook. Our pilots with students have been very promising. They continue to play even after the session is over- to “save” the patient.
Are there any plans to expand this type of professional education beyond Septris?
Lisa Shieh: We hope this game provides the platform for other medical topics. We are in the process of exploring this. We also plan to conduct a research study to see if physicians learn more from this format than other types of teaching methods
http://cme.stanford.edu/septris/
http://www.imedicalapps.com/2012/02/stanfords-septris-brings-gamification-healthcare-cme/
Gamification-explanation and examples
Gamification means using the structure of the game to modify human behavior in their daily activities.
One of good example is campaign „Plant a tree” organised by TetraPak. Anyone who has planted a virtual tree and watched its growth up to a certain level of plantings plants, receives a certificate and a guarantee that it will be planted in reality, one of the national parks. Action to work on a game - a number of inputs is equal to the level of tree growth. The prize is mostly a satisfaction.
There are various competitions that offer other prizes to win. Every day on social networking sites there are many struggles for the mugs, lanyards, earrings, t-shirts and lots of gadgets that can be used to activate the fans of your business. Just thanks to a simple application.
Another example is the Honda Insight mounted system, which gives the driver points (in the form of produded plants displayed on the dashboard) for economical driving. And people liked to collect points - especially now, when they were used to it over the years to participate in various games. And thanks to that actually tried to save fuel.
One of Iphone aplication is loosing weight application.If you dream of losing weight, the app monitores the process and compares the results with others with similar problems.
So far, the biggest Internet users’ involvement are photo contests, where people can post their pictures taken and possibly add an interesting signature. This form is attractive for both Internet users and companies that organize competitions. The reasonis their relatively high flexibility. Theme images does not have anything to do with the profile of the company, and still attracts many fans. All competitions should be regarded as a form of advertising, image buildingand brand awareness. In this form they are almost always excellent tools for realizing our goals, but they need to be properly developed.
Involvement in such a form of advertising can have a great impact on results, as evidenced by the fact that the world'slargest companies in this way gain its popularity. Thanks to it, even a small one-man company mayget crowds of customers. The effectiveness of this form of advertising can be enormous, provided that this will be done with the experienced people.
Google tech-talk explaining the Gamification:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O1gNVeaE4g
LINUX CLOUD COMPUTING, THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR CUSTOMERS
With linux cloud computing not only you pay less for license but you can also choose between different platforms, virtualizations, choice that only the open source leader can deliver. This kind of cloudin are using for example Google, and Facebook. More you can read about it here: hadoop
For more private cloding you can be done with open source Eucalyptus. More you can read about it here: Private clouding
About Linus' Law
It is a relevant article about the validity of the Linus' Law:
http://stop.zona-m.net/2011/03/is-linus-law-still-valid/
Security Issues of cloud computing
Every breached security system was once thought infallible
Understand the risks of cloud computing
How cloud hosting companies have approached security
Local law and jurisdiction where data is held
Best practice for companies in the cloud
Every breached security system was once thought infallible
SaaS (software as a service) and PaaS (platform as a service) providers all trumpet the robustness of their systems, often claiming that security in the cloud is tighter than in most enterprises. But the simple fact is that every security system that has ever been breached was once thought infallible.
Google was forced to make an embarrassing apology in February when its Gmail service collapsed in Europe, while Salesforce.com is still smarting from a phishing attack in 2007 which duped a staff member into revealing passwords.
While cloud service providers face similar security issues as other sorts of organisations, analysts warn that the cloud is becoming particularly attractive to cyber crooks.
"The richer the pot of data, the more cloud service providers need to do to protect it," says IDC research analyst David Bradshaw.
Understand the risks of cloud computing
Cloud service users need to be vigilant in understanding the risks of data breaches in this new environment.
"At the heart of cloud infrastructure is this idea of multi-tenancy and decoupling between specific hardware resources and applications," explains Datamonitor senior analyst Vuk Trifković. "In the jungle of multi-tenant data, you need to trust the cloud provider that your information will not be exposed."
For their part, companies need to be vigilant, for instance about how passwords are assigned, protected and changed. Cloud service providers typically work with numbers of third parties, and customers are advised to gain information about those companies which could potentially access their data.
How cloud hosting companies have approached security
As with most SaaS offerings, the applications forming SmartClear's offering are constantly being tweaked and revised, a fact which raises more security issues for customers. Companies need to know, for instance, whether a software change might actually alter its security settings.
"For every update we review the security requirements for every user in the system," Twiggs says.
One of the world's largest technology companies, Google, has invested a lot of money into the cloud space, where it recognises that having a reputation for security is a key determinant of success. "Security is built into the DNA of our products," says a company spokesperson. "Google practices a defense-in-depth security strategy, by architecting security into our people, process and technologies".
However, according to Datamonitor's Trifković, the cloud is still very much a new frontier with very little in the way of specific standards for security or data privacy. In many ways he says that cloud computing is in a similar position to where the recording industry found itself when it was trying to combat peer-to-peer file sharing with copyright laws created in the age of analogue.
"In terms of legislation, at the moment there's nothing that grabs my attention that is specifically built for cloud computing," he says. "As is frequently the case with disruptive technologies, the law lags behind the technology development for cloud computing."
Local law and jurisdiction where data is held
Possibly even more pressing an issue than standards in this new frontier is the emerging question of jurisdiction. Data that might be secure in one country may not be secure in another. In many cases though, users of cloud services don't know where their information is held. Currently in the process of trying to harmonise the data laws of its member states, the EU favours very strict protection of privacy, while in America laws such as the US Patriot Act invest government and other agencies with virtually limitless powers to access information including that belonging to companies.
European concerns about about US privacy laws led to creation of the US Safe Harbor Privacy Principles, which are intended to provide European companies with a degree of insulation from US laws. James Blake from e-mail management SaaS provider Mimecast suspects that these powers are being abused. "Counter terrorism legislation is increasingly being used to gain access to data for other reasons," he warns.
Privacy and security
The Commonwealth government released a “Better Practice Guide” to help Commonwealth agencies address legal issues that typically arise in cloud computing arrangements. The Guide highlights privacy and security as two of the key risks associated with cloud computing. In particular, the Guide indicates that:
to the extent that the data to be transferred into the cloud is personal information (in that it identifies, or could be used to identify, an individual), ensuring compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”) must be a key concern; and
data security is a key risk factor for all cloud computing services, particularly where the data to be transferred to the service provider is sensitive and is to be held offshore. The Guide recommends that the customer should carry out a comprehensive assessment of the service provider’s security procedures (such as encryption levels, access protocols, methods of data aggregation, methods for destroying or sanitising information at the end of the service relationship etc) before transferring data into the cloud.
Foreign government access
Depending on where they are based, cloud computing service providers may be subject to local laws that give foreign authorities rights to access and use their stored data.
For example, the US Patriot Act is designed to give the US government access to information that may help prevent terrorist attacks on their soil. The Act includes provisions that require telecommunications carriers to turn over records and data concerning individual customers if asked to do so by the government. These provisions do not require the government to get a court order, so in effect the Act allows the government to access that information on demand and without any opportunity for objection or public scrutiny.
Customers who are concerned about this level of government intervention may be reluctant to entrust their information to cloud service providers who may store that information in jurisdictions that are subject to these types of laws.
www.computerweekly.com
http://www.mallesons.com/publications/marketAlerts/2012/information-technology-update-march-2012/Pages/Data-Security-and-Privacy-Issues-in-Cloud-Computing.aspx
Future trends on cloud computing: Mobile clouds
The term "cloud computing" is being bandied about a lot these days, mainly in the context of the "future of the web." But cloud computing's potential doesn't begin and end with the personal computer's transformation into a thin client - the mobile platform is going to be heavily impacted by this technology as well. At least that's the analysis being put forth by ABI Research. Their recent report,Mobile Cloud Computing, theorizes that the cloud will soon become a disruptive force in the mobile world, eventually becoming the dominant way in which mobile applications operate.
You may be wondering: what does the term "mobile cloud computing" really mean? Basically, it refers to an infrastructure where both the data storage and the data processing happen outside of the mobile device. Today, there are already some good examples of mobile cloud computing applications including mobile Gmail, Google Maps, and some navigation apps. However, the majority of applications today still do most of the data storage and processing on the mobile devices themselves and not in the cloud. In a few years, that could change.
Why Mobile Cloud Computing?
With a Western-centric view of the world, it can sometimes be hard to remember that not everyone owns a smartphone. There are still a large number of markets worldwide where the dominant phone is a feature phone. While it's true that smartphones will grow in percentage and feature phones will become more sophisticated in time, these lower-end phones are not going away anytime soon. And it's their very existence which will help drive the mobile cloud computing trend.Not only is there a broader audience using feature phones in the world, there are also more web developers capable of building mobile web applications than there are developers for any other type of mobile device. Those factors, combined with the fact that feature phones themselves are becoming more capable with smarter built-in web browsers (and more alternative browsers available for download), will have an impact on mobile cloud computing's growth.
How Will Mobile Cloud Computing Become a Disruptive Force?
Moves by PaaS Players Could Change Everything
Currently, AWS is used by over half a million developers and Google's App Engine hosts 45,000 applications. Now imagine if those two companies along with Force.com all of a sudden started aggressively marketing their mobile capabilities. Today, neither AWS nor Google offers this, and Salesforce's mobile offering is limited to smartphones (Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and iPhone). But if the companies decided to make building for the mobile web as easy as building for the web, you could have a mobile revolution on your hands.
But People Like Apps!
The first mobile apps powered by the cloud will likely be business-focused mobile productivity applications where collaboration, data sharing, multitasking, and scheduling are key factors. For consumers, though, navigation and mapping applications will be the most obvious examples of the trend. Plus, there are some specialty applications today which already function as mobile cloud apps - for example, Schlage offers a remote keyless entry system which lets you mobilely control your home from a distance. You can let someone into your house, manage your lights, your thermostat, your camera system, etc. There are also a few applications in the iPhone app store that let youremotely manage your PC and your DVR, too.
Potential Problems
Of course, there are some potential issues that could be barriers to this shift in mobile computing. The most notable problem is the lack of speedy mobile Internet access everywhere. Here in the US, for example, 3G coverage is spotty outside urban areas, leading to intermittent connection issues and slow speeds. Other markets may have it even worse.When Will Mobile Cloud Computing Really Take Off?
According to ABI, this change is only a few years away. By 2010, we'll see one or all of the major PaaS players marketing their mobile capabilities, they say. But first, API standards from open-source mobile collaboration group BONDI will go into effect. Later, in 2011, we'll see more of HTML5, and the OneAPI standard will come into play. (OneAPI involves standardized apps for networks allowing developers to consistently access parts of network providers' capabilities, such as location services). All these factors combined will help drive the move to the cloud.The changes will occur with differing speeds depending on the market. Markets with higher Internet participation will obviously lead the way, as will markets with higher subscriber penetration. That includes Western Europe, North America, and parts of Asia. Other markets will then follow. By 2014, mobile cloud computing will become the predominant application development strategy. By that time, our PCs will be more like thin client devices than they are today, and now it seems our phones will too.
Source:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_cloud_computing_is_the_future_of_mobile.php
What is Klout?
Klout is a company that uses a user’s data from their social media outlets to analyze their influence and network.Based on this analysis, Klout will generate a “Klout score” on a scale of 1-100, where high scores signify high influence. There are three factors that are “averaged” in order to find this ultimate “Klout score”: “True Reach,” “Network Score,” and “Amplification Score”.
A user’s “True Reach” is indicative of the proportion of his or her friends/followers that are actively engaged: the higher the proportion, the higher the score. True Reach is sort of like a broad view of another factor: the “Amplification Score”. Amplification Scores are generated as a result of data concerning a user’s “True Reach” and the likelihood that the user’s social media contributions will generate action within his or her friends/followers, such as retweets, likes, comments, etc. Lastly, there is the “Network Score,” which is calculated by finding the influence value of a person’s network within their “True Reach”.
So how does Klout make money?
The idea behind the company is to connect businesses with people who have high influence. Companies pay Klout to be able to access data on people with high Klout scores, ultimately deciding whether or not to send those users free merchandise so they can “influence” their friends to buy them as well. Companies see this as a quick, low cost way of getting their brand out there and known by the public.
Overall, Klout has a lot of holes, or things that can be criticized about the program, but I believe the overarching idea of the company is quite good. Klout developers found a necessity of businesses, and made it attractive to the users through gamification. The Klout users earn “badges” every so often when their scores increase, and not only that, the incredibly competitive nature of social media encourages users to constantly try to improve their Klout score, and have the highest influence of all of their friends.
http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/videos~en/Documents~tlv-19-what-is-cloud.aspx.aspx#ooid=82cnV2Mjo8UKhTqU9rqE_IyxAJ3N7zhM
The 4 Myths of Cloud Computing in Business
With all the talk about cloud computing and its impact on business, innovation and sustainability, it's important to understand what the cloud is -- and what it isn't.
James Staten, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, provided his company's take on the subject this week at the Autodesk University, where cloud computing was Topic A for the annual users conference that drew more than 8,000 people. [Disclosure: Autodesk hosted my stay at the event.]
The main advantages cloud computing provides -- connectivity, mobility, flexibility and the power of infinite computing -- are easy to grasp. But less well understood is the definition of clouding computing and its key attributes.
Staten sought to bring clarity to the matter in a talk about for four common myths of cloud computing.
Myth 1: The cloud is just another name for outsourcing.
No, it isn't, said Staten, who offered this definition:
What makes a cloud a cloud: A standardized technology capability (services, software or infrastructure) delivered in a pay-per-use, self-service way.
The three characteristics -- standardized technology capability, pay-per-use and self-service -- need to be present, said Staten, who warned of "cloudwashing" by vendors and others who mistakenly or deliberately say they have a cloud product, when in fact they don't.
Staten added it's important to keep in mind the business model of the cloud. “You never own the cloud," he said. "You always just rent from the cloud.”
Myth 2: The cloud is the future for everything.
While cloud computing is reshaping the way business is done and how people connect, it will not replace traditional computing even though it may greatly inform it.
"Not everything is [or will become] cloud and shouldn't be," said Staten. He and various Autodesk execs pointed out that there are things cloud computing does very well and others best left to traditional computing.
"I would submit to you that cloud is inherently good for four things," said Amar Hanspal, Autodesk's senior vice president for platform solutions and emerging business, in another discussion session:
- 1. Connecting people to each other and connecting devices.
- 2. Connecting people to information and fresh data in real time.
- 3. Delivering the power of infinite computing.
- 4. Making it possible for everyone to have access to design technology, so that in effect everyone can be a designer or participate in the process.
Traditional computing typically involves fixed costs and items, enables varied deployments by a single tenant, is more manual and affords a high degree of control and customization, Staten said.In contrast, cloud computing is characterized by variable costs and items, standardized deployments, multi-tenancy, a high degree of automation, lower levels of customer control and limited customization, he said.
The most likely scenario for IT as well as business solutions going forward is a blend of the two, said Staten, pointing to Autodesk's approach for some of its new offerings.
Myth 3: The cloud saves you money.
A couple of qualifiers need to be added to make that sentence true, according to Staten. "The cloud can be cheaper, if you use it right," he said.
He offered car rental as an analogy: Renting a car is a pay-per-use proposition that is cost effective for certain situations but not for those requiring extended or permanent 24/7 use.
"For the cloud, you want to put things out there that a) have elasticity and b) transiency," Staten said, "Go up there for a little while and then go back down."
Source :
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/12/02/4-myths-cloud-computing-and-business
Hackers Stole 174 Million Personal Records in 2011 (And a Ton Were by Anonymous & Co.)
Verizon just put out its annual Data Breach Investigations Report, and you can probably guess what it says: 2011 was a banner year for hackers, and represented a huge statistical comeback. They compromised a total of 174 million records, 100 million of those in activism/for-the-lulz ops by Anon, Lulzsec, and friends.2011 in a nutshell, for the hacking community: The Sony bonanza went on and on, Anon andLulzsec tore up everyone in sight, and we got the best-worst hacker rap video in recent memory. Pretty solid year, right? Well yes, for everyone but the folks who were counting on hackers to stay as boring as they had been.Verizon had hoped that the number of occurrences was on a permanent downward trend: After the total number of compromised records climbed year after year to a crazy 361 million in 2008, it dropped to 144 million in 2009 and just 4 million in 2010. That was while increasing the data sample, too.Mitigating the crazy-high percentage of benevolent, well-intentioned breaches is the fact that almost 75 percent of the time, victims were warned ahead of time that they were about to be obliterated.We've included an embedded copy of Verizon's whole report below.Getting more information, you can go to Source：on-line information security issue
How to Quickly Read a Terms of Service
You're inundated with new contracts, Terms of Service, privacy policies, and disclaimers for every new service you use, but reading them all is next to impossible for a normal human being. To help solve this problem, we've looked at the language of most Terms of Service agreements to come up with the main words and sections everyone should pay attention to.A recent paper from Carnegie Mellon suggests it would take the average Internet user about 76 days to read all their privacy policies. The researchers found that of the top 75 websites, the average length of a privacy policy is 2,514 words. Of course, for every privacy policy a Terms of Service, end user agreement, or other contract also exists. So, how can we feasibly parse all this information without spending 8 hours a day on it?For obvious reasons, the lawyer I spoke with doesn't recommend skimming Terms of Service. If you're using a service or software for a business you should read the entire agreement very carefully. But you and I both know you're not going to read all 23 pages of the iTunes App Store Agreement, so while we respect that position, we're taking a more realistic approach and we'll show you what you can skim past and what you need to pay attention to. I spoke with eDiscovery attorney Mark Lyon to help parse the most important information out of a typical Terms of Service so you can read it quickly and get on with your day.
We'll detail a few specifics for when you're signing up for a free or paid service in the next two sections, but before we get to that, we need to look at a few of the common ideas you find in every agreement you sign. Mark suggests keeping an eye out for a few important terms.Skim for The Answers to These Questions in Any Agreement
- Will my information be shared with third parties (aka affiliated)?
- Can I opt out?
- Arbitration, where I might give up my rights to sue in court if necessary.
- Waivers or releases where I might be giving the company the ability to use my content or be giving up a claim I have against the company.
- Sections written in ALL CAPS.
Any section in all caps is worth reading and if you typically don't read the Terms of Service, it's worth at least keeping an eye on those sections. For the others on his list, it's as simple as keeping an eye out for all the key words listed above. Before clicking "I agree," do a quick search (or just CTRL+F) for:- Third parties and affiliates.
- Opt-out.
- Arbitration (You will find a whole section dedicated to arbitration usually).
- Waive or waiver.
A quick search for these terms will draw your attention to only the parts of the agreement that directly affect you. It won't save you from signing a bad agreement every time, but it will help prevent you from agreeing to a contract you can't get out of it. You're looking for signs that your information might be sold to third parties, that you can opt-out of an agreement if you like, and that you can sue if something goes wrong. Let's take a look at a few of the same words and ideas you need to look out for in both free and paid services.
A free service like Facebook or Google comes with a whole different set of rules to follow. Most of the big services use a plain-English approach, but they can still be incredibly time-intensive to read. Mark suggests keeping your eye out for the answers to three questions when signing up for a free service:What to Look for When Signing Up for a Free Service
- What right I have to content?
- What uses the provider can make of my content?
- How can and can't I use the service?
Subsequently, the above words are what you want to pay attention to. For instance, in Google's Terms of Service, you will find a section titled "Your Content in our Services" that answers the above two questions. You can also search for "content" to find all instances where the Terms mention who owns the content you produce with the service. The third question is answered rather bluntly in Google's case under the "Using our Services" header: "don't misuse our Services." A couple examples Google offers include the fact you can't use any Google assets for your own purposes and you can't access Google services other than through the methods they provide. Most other services will offer the same headline.
Pretty much everything you purchase has some type of service agreement with it. If you're purchasing software or media, it's pretty simple, but Mark recommends keeping your eye on a few things:What to Look for if You're Buying a Product or Subscribing to a Service
- If I'm signing up for entertainment (particularly games and media), I want to be certain that I'm only getting what I expect. Some developers try to slip in additional programs or adware. Usually, when they do this, they try and protect themselves by mentioning the additional (and potentially unwanted) content in the agreement.
Two words to watch out for in a software license are: "rights" and "other content." You will usually find a small section in a software license titled "Disclaimer of other content" or something similar. This is where you will usually find information about any DRM or additional installations not covered by the license.Monthly services are very different. It's important to pay close attention to the cancellation requirements on the agreements you sign with subscription services. Mark offers these two examples where the wording sounds a little fishy:Dollar Shave Club does a good job of explaining how to stop the membership, but requires a vague "reasonable amount of time" to cancel. You might be on the hook for another month. FreeCreditReport.com makes you call to cancel and doesn't offer pro-rated refunds. I try to avoid subscriptions that try and make it hard to unsubscribe.
You will usually find unsubscribe information by searching for either "unsubscribe" or "cancel." It's a good idea to look for this information in any subscription-style service, whether it's Netflix or a cell phone contract. Photo by The Consumerist.It's not possible to fully understand a legal contract by just glancing at it, but if you know what matters to you and what to look for, you can quickly skim a Terms of Service to avoid signing up for a service you're not comfortable with. Have you ever found out about something terrible in a Terms of Service after you already agreed to it?
Source:How to quickly read a terms of service
Google Caught Bing Stealing Its Search Results
As a boatload more people use Google to search for results than Bing could ever possibly dream of, it's not surprising the Bing team has been caught copying and correcting top misspelled search terms, with data mined from Google's results.The blog Search Engine Land uses the example of "torsoraphy," which Google corrects to the correct spelling of "tarsorrhaphy" and brings up relevant search results for that term. Head on over to Bing and type in that misspelled word, and what do you see? The Wikipedia page for "tarsorrhaphy," but no correction.
Apparently Google has been aware of this over close to a year now—but what to do? Google engineers thought long and hard, and set up a sting operation. You can read the whole story over on the Search Engine Land blog, but basically Google concluded that Microsoft was copying Google's results using Internet Explorer.
You could argue that if it's not illegal, what's the big issue? If it helps Bing become a better search engine—and maybe even spur on Google to crank the gears a little faster—then surely we should just be happy that everyone's receiving improved search results, no matter what engine they use?
Just hear what Google Fellow Amit Singhal thinks about the situation: "it's cheating to me because we work incredibly hard and have done so for years but they just get there based on our hard work...I don't know how else to call it but plain and simple cheating. Another analogy is that it's like running a marathon and carrying someone else on your back, who jumps off just before the finish line."
However incredible you and I may find this story, I find it doubtful a heist movie will ever be made about it, sadly. Unless Brad Pitt and George Clooney sink enough money into the production... [Search Engine Land]
UPDATED: Naturally, Microsoft's spokespeople have weighed in with "we do not copy Google's results," but tell us what you think?
Source:http://gizmodo.com/5748843/google-caught-bing-stealing-its-search-results
Spruce Up Your Social Network Profiles Before Applying for a New Job to Boost Your Chances of Getting Hired
Most people (hopefully) know by now to keep their social networks clean, in case anyone from a potential employer to a Google-happy family member stumbles on your profile. However, your Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn profile can actually be an asset in helping you stand out when you apply for a job, and sprucing it up a bit with a new photo, updated skills, and recent accomplishments can go a long way. Besides, you know the hiring manager is going to look at your profile before calling you anyway.At this point we should expect potential employers to search for us at Facebook and LinkedIn before they contact us for an interview. It's not news that a hiring manager will review a candidate's resume and then try to dig them up on Facebook to see what kind of person they are before deciding whether they want to interview them. You can boost your odds of standing out in a positive way by sprucing up your profiles as well as your resume before you apply.
Wise Bread suggests, among other things, uploading a good-looking recent photo, tidying up personal details and making sure your privacy settings are the way you want them, and—especially at LinkedIn—editing your career goals, personal description, and any other old or out of date information. Request and offer recommendations from old coworkers if you can, and make sure your recent achievements and projects are included in your profile. Wise Bread has a number of other great suggestions, like researching the company culture and the interviewers specifically, so the whole list is worth a look.
Source:http://lifehacker.com/5895468/spruce-up-your-social-network-profiles-before-applying-for-a-new-job-to-boost-your-chances-of-getting-hired
Friday (23 march)
World without facebook
World without facebook...
The video shows that Facebook is a considerable network which count more people than lots of countries. It's a tool which became very quickly a daily occupation since it gather numerous functionalities. We can also notice that this famous social network simplify considerably the organization. In fact, you don't have to do one-to-one to see the availability of each one when organizing en event since you can do mass event on Facebook and actualize information which would be autimatically notify to the people invited.
Talk about Viral Marketing, have you seen this video? A simple 30 secs video that went viral is considered as one of the most successful viral advertisements ever.
Take a look:Short and Simple, isn't it? So, what worked for it?
One of the idea that works well in viral advertising is doing something that is unexpected. Everyone boasts of their product being the best and coolest.
However, doing something different generates a lot of interest.
Remember the bear being attacked by the man, had you seen something like this before? This was something people did not anticipate and it generated lots of interest.
Example of How Social Media can help us to change our way to teach.
The example of Pinterest in the University of Minnesota:
Here the article:
http://mashable.com/2012/03/22/teachers-using-pinterest/
Here a tutorial about Pinterest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtmmGA0M_yk
Here is one interesting read I found about How Public Key Encryption and in general encryption works:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/encryption3.htm
Cost of Cloud Computing: An Example:
Amazon's EC2, one of the earliest and well known cloud computing platform charges $0.02 to $0.03/hour OR $14.40 to $21.60/month for the smallest "Micro Instance" (t1.micro) virtual machine running Linux or Windows, respectively. High CPU and memory instances cost as much as $2.48/hour. "Reserved" instances can go as low as $6.43/month for a three-year prepaid plan. The data transfer charge ranges from free to $0.12 per gigabyte, depending on the direction and monthly volume while the inbound data transfer is free on all AWS services.
(Source: www.wikipedia.com)
Now compare that with the cost of buying a licensed software/service??
Porter Five Force Analysis for "ORKUT" social media networking:
Threat of Substitute: High
Rivalry among Competitors: High
Facebook 63.58%
Youtube 18.87%
MySpace 2.18%
Twitter 1.00%
LinkedIn 0.36%
Threat of New Entrants: High
Bargaining Power of Buyers: High
Bargaining Power of Suppliers: High
(SHARMA Himanshu)